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HISTORY

Huguenot Emigratiou

America

CHARLES W; BAIRD, D.D.

Volume I '^

NEW YORK

DODD, MEAD & COINl^^.^^V''
PUBLISHERS ' ■"■ "' ' '

'\r ckA

/■^3q

A' -• y-"^ ^^X "^ ^ Copyright, 1885.

'?/ APR ''idi

<i^ i art' ^ ♦SatoODD, MEAD & COMPANY.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOLUME I.

Bay of Rio de Janeiro. Villegagnon's Island Facing title-page.

Mouth of St. John's River, Florida Page 64

Fort Caroline ; from a view in the Brevis Narratio

of Jacques Lemoyne de Mourgues " 73

Map: Acadia and part of Canada Facing page 7q

Fac-sirnile : Signatures of the Walloon and French

Petitioners " " 162

Map : St. Christopher (St. Kitts), Guadeloupe, and

Martinique, West Indies " " 201

Basse-Terre, St. Kitts; and the Island of Nevis " " 204

La Rochelle ; from the Outer Port " " 264

The " Temple" of La Rochelle ; built in the year

1630, and demolished March i, 1685 " " 276

La Rochelle ; from the Inner Port " " 318

Map: Provinces of Saintonge, Aunis and Poitou,

France. . End.

PREFACE.

I have undertaken to narrate the coming of the perse-
cuted Protestants of France to the New World, and their
establishment, particularly in the seaboard provinces now
comprehended within the United States. This movement
and settlement took place principally at the time of the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. But before that period,
important emigrations had already occurred ; emigrations
to Acadia, or Nova Scotia, to Canada, to the French West
Indies, and, by way of Holland, to the Dutch possession
of New Netherland — now New York. And still earlier,
the effort had been made by Coligny — unsuccessfully, indeed
— to plant a colony and provide a retreat for the French
Calvinists, first in Brazil, and afterward in Florida.

The volumes now submitted to the public treat first of
these antecedent movements, and then take up the narrative
of the events that led to the more considerable and more
effective emigration, in the latter years of the seventeenth
century. The attempt has been made, in connection with a
brief account of the Huguenots, before their exodus from
France,' to trace the fortunes of many who ultimately
reached this country. The recital is by no means to be
regarded as exhaustive. It is presented rather as illustrative
of the subject. Yet the number of families whose places of

' Of the works devoted to the consideration of this topic, the latest
— the History of the Rise of the Huguenots of France, by my brother
Professor Henry M. Baird — is already widely known. Two volumes, on
The Huguenots and Henry the Fourth, will soon succeed that publication,
to be followed — it is hoped — by others, covering the period of struggle
and suffering, down to the Edict of Toleration.

iv PREFACE.

origination I have ascertained, and of whose flight from
France some particulars at least have been gathered, consti-
tutes no small portion of the whole number known to have
come to America : and the exemplification of their adven-
tures here given, may be taken, it is believed, as a picture,
tolerably correct, of the entire history.

Of the settlement in America, at the period of the Revo-
cation, the present work includes only the part relating to
New England. In another work I propose to treat of the
settlement in the Middle and Southern provinces or States —
in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware —
and in Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina.

The story of the Huguenot emigration to America has
remained, till now, unwritten. This has not been due to a
lack of interest in the subject, nor to a failure to recognize
its importance. Many a glowing tribute has been paid to
the memory of the persecuted exiles, and many a thoughtful
estimate has been formed, of the value of the contribu-
tion made by them to the American character and spirit.
No traditions have been more fondly and reverently cher-
ished among us, than those concerning the hardships and
sufferings of the fugitives from France : and no names are
more honored than the names, of foreign cast, that indicate
descent from them. Yet there has scarcely been a serious
attempt to set in order the facts that have been known with
reference to this theme ; much less, to delve into the mass
of documentary evidence that might be supposed to exist.
The entire literature of the subject, to the present day, may
be said to consist of little more than a few newspaper and
magazine articles, a few passages of works upon more gen-
eral themes,' and a few valuable monographs relating to
local settlements.

' I do not forget that the episode of " The Huguenots in Florida " has
been told by the brilliant historian of New France, in his graphic way,
and that a brief account of De Monts' settlement in Acadia is embodied
in the same volume. (Pioneers of France in the New World, by
Francis Parkman.) But that episode is rather introductory to the history
of tlie Huguenots in America, than a part of it ; and both these inci-
dents are related by Mr. Parkman as subordinate to his special theme:
France and England in North America.

PREFACE. V

My attention was called to this deficiency, more than
thirty years ago, when M. Charles Weiss, while preparing his
important " History of the French Protestant Refugees,
from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes to our Own
Days," applied to my father, the late Reverend Robert
Baird, D.D., for direction in the endeavor to obtain mate-
rials for an account of the Huguenot colonists in the United
States. Little information could at that time be imparted,
in addition to the brief but interesting sketch that had
already appeared, in my father's book entitled " Religion
in America;'" and upon that sketch, M. Weiss based
the greater part of his chapters on the Refugees in
America.

The present work is the fruit of investigations that have
been carried on, in this country, and in France and En-
gland, during the last ten or twelve years. The materials
used have been found largely in unpublished documents.
Manuscripts in the possession of the descendants of refu-
gees ; memorials, petitions, wills, and other papers, on file in
public offices ; the records of a few of the early French
Churches in America ; the registers of the French Churches
in England, in the custody of the Registrar-General, Lon-
don ; the letter-books of the Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel in Foreign Parts ; documents in the British State
Paper Office, and in the National Archives of France, have
constituted a precious part of this material. Of the pub-
lished works that have aided me, the most important have
been, the volumes — now numbering thirty-three — of the
monthly Bulletin of the French Protestant Historical So-
ciety ; the volumes of La France Protestante, the second
edition of which, edited by M. Henri Bordier, is in progress ;
the histories of Protestantism in several of the provinces and
chief towns of France ; and the series of volumes printed
in this country under government auspices, comprising doc-

1 Religion in the United States of America. By the Rev. Robert
Baird. Glasgow and Edinburgh : MDCCCXLTV. Book II., Chapter
XII. "Religious Character of the early Colonists: Huguenots from
France." A revised edition was published in the year 1857, by Messrs.
Harper Brothers, New York.

vi PREFACE.

uments relative to the colonial history of several of the
States.

Of traditions, however interesting, I have taken little
account, save where they have been substantiated through
written testimony, or incidentally confirmed by established
facts. It was a remark of Goethe, which Baron Bunsen
quotes as verified under his own observation, that tradition
ceases, after three generations ; in the fourth, already, every
thing is either myth, or documentary history.' Yet I have
found not unfrequently, and sometimes very unexpectedly,
that the legends preserved in our Huguenot families for six
or seven generations, have agreed, in the main, with historic
statements ; confirming, in their turn, the accounts preserved
in more durable forms, of the perils and sufferings under-
gone by the exiles.

In the prosecution of these researches, I have been fa-
vored with the able and generous assistance of many fellow-
laborers, my indebtedness to whom I gladly acknowledge
here. To none of them have I owed more, than to M. Henri
Bordier, of Paris, whose labors in connection with the
revision of La France Protestante are conferring a vast ob-
ligation upon the student of Huguenot history ; to M. Jules
Bonnet, of Paris, the accomplished Editor of the " Bulletin
de la societe de I'histoire du protestantisme frangais," and
to M. W. N. du Rieu, Director of the University and
Walloon Libraries, Leyden. From M. Louis Meschinet de
Richemond, of La Rochelle ; from M. James Vaucher, of
Geneva ; and from M. Philippe Plan, Librarian of the Public
Library of Geneva, I have also received material help.

During a visit to London, made in the autumn of the
year 1879, I experienced the greatest courtesy at the hands
of the gentlemen in charge of the collections of documents
that I had occasion to consult. My thanks are especially
dug to Mr. Walford D. Selby, of the Public Record Office ;
to Mr. John Shoveller, of the General Register Office, Som-
erset House ; and to Mr. S. W. Kershaw, Librarian of

' .Memoirs of Baron Bunsen. Vol. II., p. 305.

PREFACE. vii

Lambeth Palace Library. Since that visit, I have received
important aid from these gentlemen, and also from two of
the Directors of the French Protestant Hospital in London.
Mr. Arthur Giraud Browning, and Mr. Henry Wagner,
F. S. A., who have spared no pains to procure for me all
needed information upon the subjects of my inquiry.

At home, I have enjoyed the invaluable cooperation of
the custodians of various repositories of manuscripts and
books. I may particularly mention Dr. George H. Moore,
Superintendent of the Lenox Library ; Mr. Frederick
Saunders, Librarian of the Astor Library; and Mr. B. Fernow,
of Albany, and Dr. Edward Strong, of Boston, who have
been most helpful to me in the investigation of the historical
records of the State of New York and of the State of Mas-
sachusetts. I have been greatly indebted to the authorities
of the French Protestant Episcopal Church " du St. Esprit,"
and of the Protestant Reformed Dutch Churches of New
York, Kingston, and New Paltz, for the privilege of con-
sulting the ancient records in their keeping. The numerous
manuscripts of Gabriel Bernon, perhaps the most remarka-
ble of the Huguenots who came to America after the
Revocation, have been kindly intrusted to me for examination,
by Mr. Sullivan Dorr, Mrs. William D. Ely, and the late Mrs.
Anne Allen Ives, of Providence, Rhode Island, descendants
of that distinguished refugee. The Mascarene papers,
now published for the first time,' have been made accessible
to me through the courtesy of their possessor. Miss Mary
W. Nichols, of Danvers, Massachusetts. These interesting
documents, upon the death of the last male descendant of
Jean Mascarene, passed into the hands of Dr. Edward
Augustus Holyoke, of Salem, the ancestor of the lady named.

I have received important help, the value of which
will appear in future volumes, rather than in these, from
Professor Frederick A. Porcher, President of the South
Carolina Historical Society, from the Reverend Dr.

' A translation of one of these papers appeared in the New England
Historical and Genealogical Register, No. CXXXIX. (July, 1881.)

vjii PREFACE.

Charles S. Vedder, and from Mr. Langdon Cheves, of
Charleston. My thanks are also due to Mr. William Kelby,
of the New York Historical Society ; to the Reverend Dr.
Benjamin F. De Costa ; to Mr. John William Potts, of
Camden, New Jersey, and to Mr. James A. Dupee, and Mr.
J. C. J. Brown, of Boston, for their obliging counsel and as-
sistance. To the names of these friends and helpers I must
be permitted gratefully to add the name of my brother,
Professor Henry M. Baird.

The views of La Rochelle, that illustrate these volumes,
have been copied, with the kind consent of Mr. Matthew
Clarkson, of New York, from engravings in his possession,
made early in the last century, and doubtless representing
the city very much as it was at the time of the dispersion.
The quaint view of the Huguenot " temple " of La Rochelle,
is a fac-simile of a picture contained in the rare work
attributed to Abraham Tessereau, a copy of which exists in
the British Museum. The petition, bearing the signatures
of the Walloons «nd French, among whom, it is believed,
were several of the first colonists of New Netherland, and
founders of the city of New York, is a fac-simile of the
original, preserved in the British State Paper Office. Per-
mission to reproduce this important document was readily
given by the Master of the Rolls, upon the application made
in my behalf by Mr. A. G. Browning.

I am indebted to Mr. George F. Daniels, the author
of a very valuable account of " The Huguenots in the
Nipmuck Country," for a view of Oxford, Massachusetts,
the site of one of the most interesting of the French settle-
ments in America.

I offer no apology for the multiplicity of proper names,
and of personal details, that will be found in several of these
chapters. The value of such a work as the present one
must obviously depend in no small degree upon the fullness
and the accuracy of information of this nature. On the
other hand, it may be necessary that I should explain, that
these particulars relate chiefly to the emigrants tliemselves,
except in the case of those who came to New England. Of

PREFACE. ix

the families that came to the Middle and Southern prov-
inces, or States, fuller notices will be reserved for a
future publication, that will treat of the settlement in those
parts of our land.

A general appreciation of the Huguenot character, and of
the Huguenot element in the population of this country,
will naturally find its place in the concluding chapter of
that publication.

RvE, New York,

November i, 1884.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST.

INTRODUCTION.

Attempted Settlements in Brazil and Florida

Coligny's Plans of Colonization
A Refuge from Persecution
Spread of Calvinism in France
The Inquisition proposed
Reformed Church of France
Coligny's Apprehensions
The Moment favorable
Durand de Villegagnon
Projected Colony in Brazil
Recruits for the Expedition
Rio de Janeiro
The Bay of Nitherohy .
Difficulties encountered
The Island Coligny
The Settlement
Embassy to Geneva
First Mission to the Heathen
The Sieur du Pont
Visit to Coligny
Voyage to Antarctic France
Affray in Honfleur .
Villegagnon's Professions
First Religious Service
Villegagnon's singular Demeanor
, Glowing Anticipations
A sleepless Night
Villegagnon a second St. Paul
Holy Communion administered
Letters to Calvin
Plans of Missionary Work
Villegagnon writes to Calvin
Gatherincr Clouds

PAGE

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43
43

CONTENTS.

Chartier's Mission .
Change in Villegagnon .
His Eccentricities .
Rupture with the Genevese
Du Pont leaves the Island
Psalm-singing in the Forest
A Brazilian Village
Preaching to the Savages
Attentive Hearers .
An Indian Tradition
Transient Impressions
The War-Song .
The homeward Voyage
Villegagnon's Treachery
Sufferers for the Faith
Jean Boles

The Colony broken up
Coligny undiscouraged
Attempted Settlements : Florida
A favorable Juncture
Edict of July, 1561
Edict of January, 1562
The " New Religion" recognized
Civil War impending
The Expedition
The River of May
Port Royal .

Outbreak of the first Civil War
Fate of Charlesfort
Second Expedition
La Caroline

Former Mistakes repeated
The Leader's Weakness
Psalm-singing in Florida
Sir John Hawkins .
Third Expedition
A common Danger .
The Spaniards .
Council of War
Pedro Menendez de Abila
Ribaut surrenders .
No Terms with Heretics
Butchery at St Augustine
The Crime avenged
Dominique de Gourgues

44
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45
46

47
47
48

49
49

5«

75
76

CONTENTS.

xui

CHAPTER I.

Under the Edict : Acadia and Canada

Sully's Statesmanship .

Henry IV. favors Colonization

The Reformation in Western France

Spread of the new Doctrines

The Mass unsaid

The Huguenots insecure

Need of a Refuge foreseen

Pierre Chauvin, Seigneur de Tontuit

New France still unoccupied

La Cadie ....

De Monts' Commission

The Rights of Conscience secured

Pierre du Gua, sieur de Monts

Minister and Priest

The Coast of Acadia explored

Aubry's Adventure

Port Royal discovered .

Annapolis Harbor .

St. Croix Island

Lay Preaching at Port Royal

A Missionary Expedition

Converts to Christianity

" The Christian Faith and Religion"

Objections to De Monts' Commission

No Guarantee against Heresy .

Religious Differences

Privileges of Trade withdrawn

Port Royal abandoned

Settlement at Quebec

Religious Liberty unrestricted

De Monts' Commission surrendered

The Jesuit Missions

The Bargain closed

The Jesuits in Acadia

Mount Desert
Under the Edict : Canada

The Compagnie Montmorency

Guillaume de Caen

The Jesuits enter Canada

Company of New France

Huguenot Settlers excluded

Triumph of the Jesuits

Toleration deplored

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no

XIV

CONTENTS.

No Compromise with Heresy
England enters the Lists
Expedition to conquer New France
Huguenots join it
Quebec taken
Canada reverts to France
The Doom pronounced
The Loss to Canada
Protestants detected in the Colony
A stubborn Heretic
Pulverized Relics
Relations with La Rochelle
Rochellese Merchants
Dangerous Proximity of Boston
Deserters to New York
Protestant Soldiers in Canada
False Brethren
The Sieur du Buisson
Echoes of the Revocation .
Bernon in Canada
Under the Edict : Acadia
Changing Owners
Dealings with the Puritans
The " Wonderful Plague"
Emigration from La Rochelle
Huguenot Families
Charles de la Tour
Inflexible Loyalty
Rival Chieftains
Madame de la Tour
Acadia reverts to France
John Paul INIascarene
Heresy in Acadia
Bergier, of La Rochelle
Huguenots in Newfoundland
The Sieur Pasteur's Daughter

PAGE
III
112

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146

CHAPTER n.

New Netherland

The Walloons

The Refuge in Holland

The Bayards

Leyden
V Walloons and French in Leyden

148
149
151
151
152
153

CONTENTS.

The Brownists
Projects of Emigration
Negotiations

The Puritans leave Leyden
The Walloons prepare to follow
Jesse de Forest .

Petition of the Walloons and French
Privileges desired
Manorial Rights
Promises of Fealty
The Virginia Company's Answer
Inadmissible Requests .
The Correspondence ceases
The Dutch West India Company
Providential Aspects
The " New Netherland " sails
The Bay of New York
Landing on Manhattan Island
The Colonists disperse
A cheerful Report
George de Rapalie .
First Settlers of New York
Jean Mousnier de la Montagne
Death of Jesse de Forest
Peter Minuit, the Walloon
The Church of New Amsterdam
Religious Services in French
Bay of the Walloons
Judith Bayard
Arrivals from France
Growth of Persecution in France .
Condition of the French Protestants
I — "Emigration from the Northern Provinces
Waldenses of Piedmont
They take Refuge in Holland
Wreck of the " Prince Maurice"
Waldenses on Staten Island
Louis, the Walloon
The Palatinate
The New Palatinate
Esopus

Indian Depredations
The Esopus War
Dominie Hermanns Blom .
Site of the Settlement .

t54
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'87
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XVI

CONTENTS.

The " New Village" .... 194
Attack upon the Settlements . . -195

Brave Defense of Wiltwyck . . .196

Consternation at New Amsterdam . .196

The Esopus Indians pursued . . . 197

The Rescue ..... 198

Security of the Settlement . . . 199

New Netherland becomes an English Possession . 200
David Provost, and Johannes de Peyster . 200

CHAPTER III.

The Antilles ....
Caribbean Islands
Occupation of St. Christopher
Mount Misery .
Basse-Terre
Early Toleration
Heretics always suffered
Huguenot Seamen
Churches in St. Christopher
Protestant Merchants
The Protestant Quarter of Guadeloupe
American Huguenot Names
The Storm approaches
Proscriptive Edicts
Protestant Officials in the Islands .
Elie Neau in the West Indies .
Occasional Severities
Methods of Intimidation
The " Engages"

Transportation to the Islands dreaded
Banishment and Slavery
Numbers actually shipped
SyniDathy awakened in Europe
A Transport Ship at Cadiz
Horrors of the Passage
Large Mortality

Martinique ....
" Les Mornes" . . . •

Quartering of Soldiers
Instances of Humane Treatment
Flight from the Islands
Methods of Escape
Arrivals in New York

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229
230
231

CONTENTS.

xvii

Tardy Change of Policy-
Protestants remaining in the Islands
Bermuda ....

CHAPTER IV.

Approach of The Revocation
Fall of La Rochelle
Political Importance of the Huguenots
They cease to form a Party
Their Devotion to Trade and Manufactures
Their unimpeached Loyalty
Testimonies of Louis XIII. and Louis XIV.
Their Relentless Enemy
The Edict irrevocable
Preparing to revoke it .
The family attacked : Disorder introduced into the

Home ......

The Schools attacked : Academies suppressed
The Church attacked : Closing of Protestant

" Temples" .....
Personal Rights invaded
Exclusion from Trades and Professions
The Dragonnades
As in an Enemy's Country .
Forced Conversions
The Exodus

Expedients of the Fugitives
Flight by Sea and Land
The Collapse
Doors of Escape
England's Welcome
The Royal Bounty .
Other Overtures
The Protestant Princes
Persecution continues .
The Edict of Revocation .
Its Provisions
Judgment of the Age, and of Posterity

233

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239
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240
241
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242
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243

245

247
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249

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253
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256

257
25S

259

CHAPTER V.

The Revocation : Flight from La Rochelle and

AuNis ..... 262

Calvin's first Disciples .... 262

XVIU

CONTENTS.

The seaboard Provinces

Home of American Huguenots

La Rochelle

" La Terre d' Aunis"

A glorious History

The Protestant Capital

Second Siege of La Rochelle

Its political Importance ceases

Three hundred Families ejected from the City

Emigrants to America

Jean Touton ....

Correspondence with Governor Stuyvesant

Homes of the Rochellese

Streets of La Rochelle

St. Nicolas, and La Lanterne

Historic Associations

" Le Bastion de 1' Evangile"

The Pre de Maubec

The Huguenot " Preche"

Rochellese Families : Bernon and Jay

Gabriel Manigault

Baudouin, Sieur de la Laigne

Allaire and Faneuil

The Sigourneys

The Protestant " Noblesse" of Aunis

The Sieur de Rivedoux

Bruneau de la Chabossiere

The Seigneurs de Cramahe

Daniel Robert .

Rochellese Emigrants to Boston

Emigrants to the City of New York

The Ancestor of John Morin Scott

Em.igrants to New Rochelle,

Settlers in Ulster County

Settlers on Staten Island

Antoine Pintard

Settlers in South Carolina

Marans in Aunis

The Seigneur de Cressy

Elie Boudinot's Will

Benon and Mauze, in Aunis

The Gallaudets

The Isle of Re .

Descendants of the " New Converts"

Emigrants from the Isle of Re .

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CONTENTS.

XIX

Emigrants from the Isle of Re to New England . 304
To New York ..... 305

Pierre Bontecou ..... 307

Emigrants to South Carolina . . . 308

Isaac Mazyck . . . , -31°

The Intendant Demuyn , . . 312

The " Temple " of La Rochelle demolished . 313

Bernon's Letter to a Friend in Boston . . 314

Fusileers from Beam . . . -315

Pillage in La Rochelle . . . '315

" Bowing the Knee to Baal" , . -316

Pierre Jay . . . . -317

Escape of Jay's Family . . . -317

A Prisoner in La Lanterne . . . 318

Andre Bernon . . . . -319

Brutality of the Intendant Arnou . . 320

Samuel and Jean Bernon . . . -321

Fervent Proselytes .... 322

Gabriel Bernon ..... 323

His Escape to Holland .... 324

Relatives in the Convents and Galleys . . 325

Appendix ...... 327

Letter of the Ministers Richer and Chartier to

Calvin ...... 329

Translation ..... 330

Letter of the Minister Richer to an unknown Cor-
respondent ..... 332

Translation ..... ^^^

Letter of Villegagnon to Calvin . . . 335

Translation ..... 338

Commission of Henry IV. to De Monts . -341

Translation. " The Patent of the French Kinge to

Mounsieur De Monts" . . . 344

Petition of the Walloons and French . . 348

Answer of the Virginia Company . . 350

The Walloon and French Petitioners . -351

Notes from the Walloon Records of Leyden . 353

INTRODUCTION.

ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS

BRAZIL AND FLORIDA.

The project of establishing colonies of French introd.
Protestants in America, was entertained and ad- 1555.
vocated, as early as the middle of the sixteenth
century, by the illustrious Gaspard de Coligny.
A patriotic and a religious zeal alike prompted
him to favor the measure. Intent on fur-
thering the prosperity of France through the
development of her industrial resources, the
ereat Admiral, a hundred years before Colbert, coiigny's

cs . . -^ plans of

pleaded for colonization. Whenever released Coioniza-
from the more pressing cares of political and
military life, his mind was occupied with plans
of this nature, hoping, as he expressed it, " so to
manage that in a little while we may have the
finest trade in all Christendom." Coiigny's
views of the foreign policy of France also led
him to favor a colonial system. Spain, foremost
in the discovery and exploration of the New
World, was now nearly without a rival upon its
continents and waters. The vast empires of
Mexico and Peru had fallen an easy prey to her
captains ; and the riches which the conquest
poured into the royal treasury, enabled Charles

22 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS: BRAZIL.

introd. the Fifth to carry on the wars which disturbed
1555. the peace of Europe, and which especially humili-
ated France. Coligny had already distinguished
himself in arms against the Spaniard. Devoted
to his country's interests, he could not but ap-
prove a plan for weakening her inveterate foe by
planting settlements and trading posts along the
American shore, and contesting the commerce and
the sovereignty of the New World with Spain.

But there was another consideration, perhaps
more potent, appealing to Coligny's religious
sympathies. Though not yet an avowed adher-
ent of the Reformed faith, he was in accord with
AEefuge ^^^ Protestaut movement, and was preparing to
fromPer- j-,g ^\-^q fearless champion of relisfious freedom

secution. _ .

and of the rights of conscience that he proved
himself ever after. At this moment, the outlook
for Protestantism in France was an anxious one.
The doctrines of the Reformation, proclaimed in
Germany by Luther, had soon spread into the
1521. neighboring territory of France, and made con-
verts among the learned and the titled, as well
as among the common people. For a time it
seemed probable that the evangelical faith might
enjoy toleration, if not patronage and acceptance,
from the ereat. The kingf, Francis the First,
himself professed a desire to see the abuses of
the Church corrected. His sister, Margaret of
Angouleme, afterwards Queen of Navarre,
early came into sympathy with the teachings of
the reformers, and showed herself their zealous
and steadfast friend. Motives of state policy
prompted Francis to seek alliance with the Prot-

SPREAD OF CALVINISM IN FRANCE.

-v)

estant princes of Germany, and to conciliate the introd.
Lutherans among his own subjects. But it was i~2.
not long before, influenced by other considera-
tions, he forsook the course of moderation upon
which he had entered, and acknowledged himself
the implacable foe of the Reformation. His hos-
tility was reflected and intensified in the legisla-
tion of the period. Parliamentary enactments
pronounced the profession of the new doctrines
a crime, to be punished with death ; and execu-
tions for heresy became frequent throughout the
kingdom. The last years of Francis I. were
stained by the massacre of the Protestant inhab- 1545.
itants of twenty-two towns and villages in south-
eastern France, and by the burning at the stake
of fourteen members of the newly organized
church of Meaux. Under the reiofn of his son.
Henry H., the laws that aimed at the extirpation
of heresy became increasingly severe. The edict june27,
of Chateaubriand enjoined upon the civil and
ecclesiastical courts of the kingdom to combine
for the detection and punishment of heretics.
Persons convicted of heresy were denied the
right of appeal from the decisions of these
courts. Suspected persons were excluded from
every public preferment, and from all academic
honors. Heavy penalties were imposed upon
apy who should harbor them, connive at their
escape, or present petitions in their behalf. In-
formers were awarded one-third part of the goods
of persons informed against. The property of
those who fled from the kingdom was to be
confiscated. The same edict forbade the intro-

1551.

24 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS: BRAZIL.

introd. duction of heretical books from abroad, and
j~ established a rigid censorship of the press at
home, to prevent the publication of such works
within the realm.

Yet in spite of these harsh repressive meas-
ures, the Protestant faith continued to spread in
France. Its enemies, finding that the torture
and the fagot, as applied under the sanction of
civil law, availed nothing to deter multitudes
from embracing the new religion, now urged the
Thein- introduction of the Spanish Inquisition, which

pSposed. had proved so effectual in destroying heresy on
the other side of the Pyrenees. It was, how-
ever, at the very time when this proposal was
under consideration in the Parliament of Paris,
that the first Protestant church in France was

September organized in a private house of that city ; and it
was soon after this that the foundations of an
ecclesiastical system destined to unite and con-
solidate the scattered congregations of believers
throughout the kingdom, were laid by a handful
of obscure and persecuted men.
May 26, xhe first National Synod of the Reformed

1559- . . . _

Churches of France met in Paris, in May, 1559.
The form of ecclesiastical discipline adopted was
that already existing in the Reformed Church
of Geneva ; and it was substantially the same
with that which was established in the following
year by the first General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland. The parity of the Holy
Ministry was recognized. In each congregation
the minister or ministers, together with the
" anciens," (elders,) chosen by the people, formed

1559-

heusions.

REFORMED CHURCH OF FRANCE. 25

the " Consistoire" or Church Session, having introd
the oversight of the flock. From the decisions
of this court, appeal could be made to the " Col-
loque," or Provincial Synod, which met twice
every year, and which was composed of all the
pastors of the churches within a certain territory,
together with elders representing the congrega-
tions. The National Synod was the supreme
ecclesiastical court.

Coliorny knew the temper of the religious i555.

.^L-ir 111 1- CoUgny's

party to whicli he was already bound m sympa- Appre-
thy, and of which he was soon to become the
military leader. Sagacious and far-sighted, this
eminent man — " one of the largest, firmest, and
most active spirits that have ever illustrated
France" — dreaded the effect of persecution upon
a body of men, steadily growing in numbers,
swayed by the most powerful convictions, con-
scious of their strength, yet denied the liberty
either to enjoy their rights of conscience at home
or to seek room for the enjoyment of them in
foreign lands. The plan of founding a French
colony in America, where the adherents of the
Reformed religion might freely profess and exer-
cise their faith,' while at the same time enlarg-
ing the possessions and increasing the resources
of the kingdom,^ commended itself strongly to

" Le but etoit bien moins d' acquerir a la France une
partie du Bresil, que d'y assurer une ressource au Cal-
vinisme, proscrit et persecute par le Souverain." — Histoire
de la Nouvelle France, par le P. de Charlevoix. Vol. I.,
P- 35-

^ " La colonisation par les protestants des regions qu' on

26 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS: BRAZIL.

introd. his judgment : and upon his representations, the
1555. '^ii^g' Henry II., consented to the scheme.'

The moment seemed favorable. A series of
mihtary reverses had incHned Charles the Fifth
to terms of peace with France and with her
allies, the Protestant States of Germany. Spain
was resting from a lonsf and an exhaustive war.
Among the countries beyond the seas which had
been discovered by vSpanish adventurers, Brazil
remained almost unnoticed. A companion of
^500' Christopher Columbus had taken possession of
it, fifty years before, in the name of the King of
Castile : but the claim had not been pressed.
By the line of demarkation which the Roman
See had drawn, dividing all lands as yet undis-
covered between the crowns of Spain and
Portugal, Brazil was found to belong to the lat-

nommait alors les Indes etait un des reves favoris de
ramiral." — De Grammont : Relation de 1' expedition de
Charles-Quint contre Alger par Villegaignon. P. 8.

' " On disoit ouvertement que c'etoit-la le moyen d'e-
tendre la gloire du nom Frangois, & d' affoiblir les forces
des ennemis, qui tiroient de ces contrees de puissans secours,
pour faire la guerre : Que 1' exemple des Francois serviroit
beaucoup a ouvrir aux nations etrangeres le chemin decette
partie du monde : de sorte qu' en rendant la liberie aux
Americains, on y etabliroit un commerce public et commun
a toutes les nations, dont les seuls Espagnols, par le joug
insupportable qu' ils avoient irnpose a ces peuples, tiroient
tout le profit. Voila ce qu' on publioit par- lout. Mais
Villegagnon avoit traite secretement avec Coligny, et comme
il scavoit que 1' Amiral fav'orisoit sourdement les sectaleurs
de la Religion des Suisses et de Geneve, dont il y avoit deja
un grand nombre en France, il lui avoit fait esperer qu' il
etabliroit celte Religion dans les pais dont il se rendroit le
maitre." — Hisloire Universelle de Jaques Auguste de Thou,
Tome II. , p. 381.

DURAND DE VILLEGAGNON. 27

ter power. The Portuguese indeed, at an early introd.
day, formed a few settlements along- the coast. 1555.
But it was not until the discovery of gold in that
country, that Portugal herself showed any great
interest in this occupation. Meanwhile, the
French, who had never admitted the right of the
Pope to apportion a hemisphere between their
rivals the Spaniards and Portuguese, were ex-
ploring the coast of Brazil, and trading with its
inhabitants, upon their own account.

It was now that a French soldier of fortune, Projected
Durand de Villegagnon, proposed to Coligny Brazil,
the establishment of a Protestant colony in
Brazil. Villegagnon was well known as a brave
soldier, and an accomplished naval commander,
and was particularly recommended for such an
expedition by his acquaintance wath. the Bra-
zilian coast. He also represented himself to the
Protestants as in sympathy with their views ; and
if he did not himself originate the plan of emi-
gration to the New World, willingly lent himself
to Coligny's scheme in behalf of his persecuted
brethren.'

' Jurieu, Apologia pour la Reformation, I. 552, maintains
that Coligny fixed upon Villegagnon to carry out his own
design, and prepare a retreat in America for the persecuted
Protestants. Bayle, Hist. & Crit. Dictionary (v. Villegagnon)
quotes Beza in opposition to this statement. Count Dela-
borde (Gaspard de Coligny, Amiral de France, I. 145, 146,)
adopts the former view. " Coligny avait con^u le projet d'y
fonder [en Bresil] une colonic, dans la double pensee de
servir les interets de la France en lui assurant, au dela de
r Ocdan, la possession d' une contree propre a favoriser
son commerce, et d' ouvrir un asile a ceux des protestants
fran9ais qui pourraient se soustraire aux persecutions
dirigees contre eux sur le sol natal."

tion.

28 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS: BRAZIL.

introd. It was in July, 1555, that two ships and a
July 12, transport, furnished and fitted out at the royal
1555- charges,' set forth under the auspices of Ad-
miral Coligny, from the port of Havre de Grace.
The company of emigrants was considerable.
Villegagnon's ship alone carried one hundred
persons. Some of these were Protestants, of
various conditions — noblemen, soldiers, and
mechanics. But there were others who proba-
bly cared little either for the " new " doctrines
Recruits or for the old. Villegagnon had availed himself
Expedi- of the king's permission to visit the prisons of
Paris, and select any of the criminals whom he
might judge to be suitable as recruits. This
was no uncommon way of securing colonists for
the settlement of lands beyond the seas. It
may be doubted whether the experiment ever
proved a successful one.

The band of volunteers was soon reduced in
number by desertions. Scarcely had the vessels
gained the Channel, before a severe gale set in,
driving them back to the coast of Normandy.
At Dieppe, where they put in for shelter and re-
pairs, many of the voyagers, satisfied with their
brief experience of the perils and discomforts of
the ocean, abandoned the enterprise. Only
eighty persevered, of whom thirty were artisans
and common workmen.

A long and stormy voyage brought the adven-
turers to the wonderful Bay, which its discoverer,

' In addition to this outfit, the king granted the sum of
ten thousand livres for the first expenses of the enterprise.
(De Lery.)

RIO DE JANEIRO.

supposing it to be the moutli of some great river,
had misnamed Rio de Janeiro. As their ships
approached the narrow entrance to this land-
locked sheet of water, the Frenchmen looked
with admiring eyes upon scenery unsurpassed
for magnificence and beauty by any other in
either hemisphere. On each side of this en-
trance, a granite mountain stood, as if forbidding
access. Beyond these giant sentinels, and
through a deep vista of wooded hills, the vast
harbor was seen, its expanse broken by palm-clad
islands, and framed in wuth dense forests, behind
which rose lofty ranges of mountains, strangely
contorted in abrupt, fantastic forms. Nearing
the shore, the voyagers beheld for the first time
the splendors of a tropical vegetation. The at-
mosphere was heavy with the odor of flowers,
and sight and hearing were together regaled by
the incessant song and the brilliant plumage of
countless varieties of birds.

Villegagnon landed with his men upon the,
shore near the entrance of the bay. The arrival
of the party was greeted by the savages in the
neighborhood with every demonstration of joy.
These tribes were friendly to the French, with
whom they had long traded ; and they regarded
their visitors' as allies, come to protect them
against the Portuguese, whom they hated for
their cruelty and rapacity. But neither the
friendliness of the savages nor the grandeur and
loveliness of the scenes of nature around them,
could blind the strangers to the fact that a labo-
rious and discouraging work awaited them. The

Introd.

^555-

Bay of
Nithe-
rohy.

so ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS : BRAZIL.

introd. country was utterly uncultivated. The natives,
1555. though disposed to be helpful, were improvident,
and had no sufficient stores of food for their
supply. It was necessary to begin without de-
lay the building of some kind of fortification,
not only as a precaution against the Indians,
whose fidelity could not be greatly relied on, but
especially in view of the proximity of the Portu-
guese, who, though they had not been able to
retain possession of the land, were enraged by
Difficui- the intrusion of the French, and miorht at any

tl6S 611"

countered, moment make a descent upon them from their
settlement at San Salvador, in the north. But
the difficulties in the way of building were many.
There were no beasts of burden, and timber
must be carried on the shoulders of men, up
the steep hillsides of the wild broken country.
Villegagnon himself was at a loss to decide upon
the best course to be pursued : and his compan-
ions, the better portion of them especially, were
completely discouraged, and only waited till
the ships which had brought them over
should be r6ady for the homeward voyage, re-
turning to France with a cargo of Brazil-wood.
The leader was soon left with a diminished
band, consisting for the most part of the convicts
whom he had taken out of the prisons in Paris.
Fearing lest they too might desert him, and go
over to the savages, with whom they were but
too well inclined to consort, he determined to
leave the main-land,' and establish himself upon

' So Villegagnon himself intimates in his letter to Calvin,

THE ISLAND COLIGNY. 3 1

one of the numerous islands in the beautiful introd.
bay. The little island of Lage, just within the 1555.
entrance of the bay, was first chosen. Here
Villegagnon set his men at work to build a tem-
porary fort or block-house. But it was soon
found that the action of the water at flood-tide
in the narrow channel threatened the security of
the building ; and the party removed to another
small island, two miles further up the widening
portal of the bay, and directly opposite the site
now occupied by the city of Rio de Janeiro.
This island, known at the present day by Ville- TheSettie-

, • , ^, ., . . - ment.

gagnon s name, is less than a mile in circumfer-
ence, and lies at the distance of only two fur-
longs from the shore. It was called in honor of
the patron of the colony, Coligny : a fort was
erected on a rock at the water's edge, and near
by, under shelter of the guns, the rude cabins of
the settlers were hastily constructed.

Even in this isolated spot, Villegagnon found
it difficult to keep his vicious and refractory fol-
lowers under control. A conspiracy against his

(see appendix to this volume,) in which he gives his reasons
for subsequently removing to an island. De Lery, who
arrived more than a year later, and who may not have
known all the particulars of the beginnings of the colony,
says nothing about the unsuccessful attempt to settle on the
main-land.

There is an allusion to it in Andre Thevet's notices of
the expedition. " Nous trouvasmes une petite isle . . .
dans laquelle quelques deux mois suivans commen9ames a
fortifier, apres avoir pense a nos affaires et avoir /iz/V
descente en terre continente, pour tirer I'amitie de ces bar-
bares." (Histoire de deux voyages par luy faits aux Indes
australes et occidentales, apud Memoires de Claude Haton.-
appendice, p. 1099.)

Z2 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS: BRAZIL.

latrod. life, in which all but five joined, was discov-
1555- cs^ barely in time, and the summary punish-
ment of the ringleader struck terror into the
minds of the rest. After this, the work of forti-
fication proceeded, and the little colony enjoyed
a tolerable degree of tranquillity for the remain-
der of the year.
toGeneva. ^^^^ ship that returned to Europe with some
of the discouraged adventurers, carried also a
trusty messenger from Villegagnon, charged
with the duty of reporting to Coligny and to
the king the establishment of the colony, and of
seeking re-enforcements, in order to the perma-
nent occupation of " Antarctic France," as the
new continent was now denominated. In addi-
tion to this embassy, the messenger was in-
structed to proceed to Geneva, and there to
present to the ministers and magistrates of the
city an earnest appeal for help to plant the Gos-
August20 pel in America. Calvin himself was absent,
*i2°i55a having been called to Frankfort for the purpose
of endeavoring to settle the serious disputes
among the English exiles and the Protestants of
that city. But the envoy was heartily welcomed
by the other ministers of Geneva, as well as by
the magistrates. Solemn relig^ious services were
held in the cathedral church of St. Pierre : the
Genevese, who were " naturally desirous of the
spread of their own religion, giving thanks to
God," as the old chronicler Lescarbot relates,
" for that they saw the way open to establish
their doctrine yonder, and to cause the light
of the Gospel to shine forth among those

FIRST MISSION TO THE HEATHEN. 33

barbarous people, godless, lawless, and without introd.
reliorion." Several pious young students, one 1556.
of whom was Jean de Lery, offered themselves
for the work of instructing the savages in the
knowledge of Christianity ; and two clergymen •
of the Church of Geneva, Pierre Richer, called
de Lisle, and Guillaume Chartier — the first
Protestant ministers to cross the Atlantic —
were appointed to this mission.

The other members of the little company
were Pierre Bourdon, Mathieu Verneuil, Jean
du Bordel, Andre Lafon, Nicolas Denis, Jean
Gardien, Martin David, Nicolas Roviquet,
Nicolas Carmeau, and Jacques Rousseau.
Three of these were destined to martyr-
dom for their faith,

A number of mechanics and laborers also Thesieur
joined the party. At its head was the aged
Philippe de Corguilleray, sieur du Pont, an old
neighbor and friend of Coligny, who had left
his estates at Chatillon sur Loing, some years
before, that he might live amid the religious
privileges to be enjoyed in Geneva. It was at
the admiral's own request, seconded by that of
Calvin, that this venerable man' consented to
take the leadership of the enterprise.^

' Ja vieil et caduc. — De Lery.

"^ The particulars of the expedition to Brazil are given by
De Lery, who accompanied it, and by Lescarbot, who seems
to have derived his information from others who were en-
gaged in it. De Lery's account is to be found in his " His-
toire d'un Voyage fait en la Terre du Bresil, autrement
dite Amerique. Contenant la Navigation, & choses remar-
quables, veiies sur mer par 1' aucteur. Le comportement

34 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS: BRAZIL.

introd. The band of volunteers thus organized left

1556- Geneva in excellent spirits.' Crossing the

September Jura mountains, they made their way through

the provinces of Franche Comte and Burgundy,

Visit to the home of Coliorny, in the valley of the

to Coligny. ^ . ,^ , i-i -i .,

Lomg. Here the admiral graciously entertamed
them, in his ancient castle of Chatillon, ''one of
the very finest in France," and encouraged them
in their undertaking, setting before them many
reasons that led him to hope that God would
permit them to see the fruit of their labors, and
promising them the help of the naval force at
his command. From Chatillon they proceeded to
Paris, where they spent a month, and where, to
their delight, Richer and Chartier found that " a
church had been gathered in the best manner,
according to the word of God." Scarcely a
year had passed since the organization of this

de Villegagnon en ce pais la. Les meurs & fagons de vivre
estranges des Sauvages Ameriquains : avec un colloque de
leur langage. Ensemble la description de plusieurs Ani-
maux, Arbres, Herbes, & autres choses singulieres, & du
tout inconues pardeca : dont on verra les sommaires des
chapitres au commencement du livre. Non encores mis en
lumiere, pour les causes contenues en la preface. Le tout
receuilli sur les lieux par lean De Lery, natif de La Mar-
gelle, terre de Sainct Sene, au Duche de Bourgougne.
Pseaume CVIIL Seigneur, ie te celebreray entre les peuples,
& te diray Pseaumes entre les nations. A Geneve. Pour
Antoine Chuppin, M.D. LXXX." — 8 vo., pp. 382.

' Gallasius writes, September i6th, from Geneva, to Calvin,
then in Frankfort, '' Richeriiis et Quadrigarius \Q\\zx\\^x\
cum Pontatio [du Pont] octavo die hujus mensis in viam se
dederunt eadem alacritate animi quam antea prae se fere-
bant. Unum tantum diem discessum eorum distulit Ponta-
nus, quod torminibus subito correptus itineris laborera ferre
non posset."

VOYAGE TO ANTARCTIC FRANCE. 35

little flock in the French capital, the first Prot- introd.
estant church in France : and the visit of these T556.
ministers was well-timed, as on the way to their
mission field, they stopped to speak to their fel-
low-believers of the prospects of God's kingdom
in the heathen world. In Paris the travelers
were joined by several noblemen who had heard
of the expedition. In due time they reached
Honfleur, in Normandy, their appointed place
of embarkation.

While waiting for the little fleet of three ves-
sels which the king had promised to furnish for
their voyage, the emigrants experienced one of
those effects of the popular hatred to which the
Protestants of France were perpetually exposed,
even in times of peace. Gathered in their Affray in
lodgings, they were celebrating the Lord's Sup-
per at night, when a mob burst in upon them,
and in the afifray that followed, one of their
number, the captain Saint Denis, was killed.

It was on the twentieth of November that the November

20
adventurers launched upon "that great and im-

pestuous sea, the Ocean." A nephew of Velle-
gagnon, the sieur Bois-le-Compte, was in com-
mand. His flag-ship, "la petite Roberge,"
carried eighty persons. Jean de Lery, and his
companions, sailed with Captain de Sainte-
Marie ; and a third vessel, the '' Rosee," had on
board six boys, sent over to learn the language
of the country, and five young girls, under the
care of a matron. The voyage lasted nearly
four months. It was disgraced by several acts
of piracy, perpetrated by Bois-le-Comte, upon

6 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS : BRAZIL.

iii^d. Spanish and Portuguese ships. The emigrants

1557- remonstrated in vain with the commander
against these lawless acts, which he doubtless
sought to justify by the maritime customs of the
time.'
March 10 At length, on Wednesday, the tenth of March,
the passengers landed on the island Coligny, in
the bay of Rio de Janeiro. "The first thing
we did," says Jean de Lery, " was to join in
thanks^ivinCT to God." The new-comers were
led at once into the presence of Villegagnon,
who welcomed them warmly. These courtesies
over, the aged sieur du Pont addressed him,
setting forth the motives which had influenced
his companions and himself in undertaking
a voyage attended with so many dangers and
hardships. It was, he said, to constitute in
that country a Church reformed according to
the word of God. Villegagnon replied, declaring
that inasmuch as this had long been the desire

viiie- of his own heart, he received them gladly with
^pnJe^-^ this understanding. Nay, it was his purpose

^^°^^ that their Church should be the best reformed
of all, and even far beyond others : and that
henceforth vice should be rebuked, extravagance
in dress corrected, and in short everything that
might hinder the worship of God in its purity
removed. Then, clasping his hands, and raising

' It deserves to be noticed that Coligny himself had earn-
estly protested against piracy, and had exerted himself for
its repression, and for the protection of commerce upon the
high seas. — Gaspard de Coligny, Amiral de France ; par le
comte Jules Delaborde, Paris, 1882. T. III., p. 363.

INTERVIEW WITH VILLEGAGNON.

his eyes toward heaven, he thanked God for
sending him the blessingr which he had so fer-
vently besought from Him ; and turning to the
Genevese, he addressed them as his children, as-
suring them of his unselfish design to provide
for their welfare and for that of those who
might come to this place for the same purposes.
" For," said he, " I am planning to prepare a
refuge for the poor believers who may be perse-
cuted in France, in Spain, and elsewhere, beyond
the sea, to the end that, without fear of king,
emperor or other potentate, they may here serve
God in purity according to His will."

This interview ended, Villegagnon led the
whole company into a cabin that stood in the
middle of the island, and that served both as
chapel and as refectory. Here, when they had
sung the fifth Psalm, after Marot's version,^

Introd.

1557-

First
religious
service.

' Aux paroles que je veux dire,
Plaise toi I'oreille prester :
Et a cognoistre t'arrester,
Pourquoi mon cceur pense et soupire,
Souverain Sire.

Enten a la voix tres-ardente,
De ma clameur, mon Dieu mon Roy,
Veu que tant seulement a toi
Ma supplication presente
J'offre et presente.

Matin devant que jour il face,
S'il te plaist, tu m'exauceras :
Car bien matin prie seras
De moi, leuant au ciel la face,
Attendant grace.

Tu es le vrai Dieu qui meschance
N' aimes point, ne malignite :

;8 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS: BRAZIL.

Introd.

1557-

Villegag-

non's

singular

demeanor.

Richer, one of the two ministers, preached, tak-
ing for his text the fourth verse of the xxviith
Psalm : One thing have I desired of the Lord,
that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life.
Doubtless the discourse was eloquent,' as the
occasion was inspiring. But the preacher's at-
tention, and that of his audience, must have
been greatly distracted by the singular conduct
of their host. Villecjaf^non, throuQ^hout the ser-
mon, "ceased not to clasp his hands, raise his
eyes to heaven, heave deep sighs, and assume
other like expressions, insomuch that every one
marveled." Less edifying was the surprise that
awaited the voyagers, on the same day, when, a
few hours later, they were summoned into the
cabin, now transformed into a dining-hall. It
was a sorry feast to which the austere com-
mander invited them : consisting of boiled fish,
and bread prepared after the manner of the sav-
ages from dried roots reduced to fiour, together
wath certain other roots baked in the ashes.
The rocky island, upon which the little settle-
ment was perched, contained neither spring nor

Et auec qui en verite
Malfaicteurs n' auront accointance,
Ne demeurance.

Jamais le fol et temeraire
N'ose apparoir devant tes yeux :
Car tousiours te sont odieux
Ceux qui prenent plaisir a faire
Manuals affaire.

* " II avoit le talent de la parole," says Arcere. — Histoire
de la ville de la Rochelle, II., 103.

GLOWING ANTICIPATIONS, 39

running stream, and the only beverage provided introd.
for the company was drawn from a tank which 1557.
Villegagnon's men had dug upon their first ar-
rival.

The sober meal concluded, Du Pont and his
companions were led to the quarters provided
for them. These were small Indian huts, built
near the water's edge, which the savages in the
governor's employ were just completing, by
roofing them over with grass. For beds, they
had hammocks, suspended in the air, according
to the South American custom.' But it was a
sleepless night, we may suppose, to some of the
party, if not to all. The air was balmy — as mild
as that of May in their native land. The cloud-
less heavens, revealing new constellations — the
bay, its irregular shores fringed with graceful
palm-trees — the encircling mountains, that re- Asieepiess
called to the Genevese their own majestic Alps ^^
— must have kept the eyes of more than one of
them waking. But to the pious ministers, at
least, the mental prospect was still more im-
pressive. This, then, was the New World, where
the Gospel of the Son of God, so lately revealed
in its purity to the nations of Europe, was to be

' The Portuguese missionaries who found their way to
Brazil about the same time with the French Calvinists,
speak of the Indian hammock as a novel but an agreeable
contrivance. It is still in use at the present day, among the
tribes of the Rio Negro and the Amazon. The hammock is
woven from the fibrous portions of certain varieties of the
palm-tree. — Brazil and the Brazilians, by Rev. James C.
Fletcher and Rev. D. P. Kidder, D.D., sixth edition, pp.
68, 468.

40 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS : BRAZIL.

introd. preached to savage tribes still immersed in
1557. heathen darkness.' Here, in the first mission-
field of Protestantism, the pure doctrines of
Christianity were to be announced, before the
emissaries of Loyola could introduce their cor-
rupted creed. Here, "Antarctic France" was
to be possessed for the king, and for that perse-
cuted cause to which the good Coligny was
lending his powerful influence.^ It is not un-
likely, however, that these glowing anticipations
may have been shaded somewhat by recollec-
tions of the past few hours, as the ministers re-
membered with perplexity the singular demean-
or of Villegagnon at the religious service in
which they had engaged, and his excessive
protestations of zeal for the reformed religion,
viiiegag- Three weeks passed by, and the commander's
second St. great show of piety was kept up so admirably,
^^^^" that the good minister Richer, captivated by his
eloquence and soundness in the faith, declared
to his companions that they ought to esteem
themselves happy in having a second Saint Paul
in this extraordinary man. To testify his zeal
for religion, Villegagnon lost no time in establish-
ing an order of public worship for his colony.
Evening prayer was to be said daily, after the

' " Voyage . . . qui donna une merveilleuse esperance
d'avancer le royaume de Dieu jusques au bout du monde." —
Theodore de Beze, Histoire ecclesiastique, livre IL

^ " Osant assurer qu' il ne se trouvera a par toute I'antiquite
qu' il y ait iamais eu Capitaine Frangois et Chrestien, qui
tout a une fois ait estendu le regne de Jesus Christ Roy des
Rois, et Seigneur des Seigneurs, et les limites de son Prince
Souuerain en pays si lointain." — De Lery.

HOLY COMMUNION ADMINISTERED. 41

colonists had left their work :' and a sermon, introd.
not exceeding one hour in length, was to be 1557.
preached. It was on Sunday, the twenty-first of
March, 1557, that this order of worship was sol-
emnly inaugurated. A preparatory service was
held, according to the custom already adopted
in the French Reformed Churches ; and those
who wished to communicate were catechised. At
the celebration of the Lord's Supper which fol-
lowed, Villegagnon insisted that the shipmasters
and seamen who were not of the Reformed religr-
ion should go out from the assembly ; and then,
to the amazement of some and the edification of
others, he kneeled down, and offered two lengthy
prayers. After this he presented himself the
first to receive the sacrament, kneeling upon a
piece of velvet cloth which a page had spread on
the ground before him.

The two ministers were perhaps the last to see letters to
any occasion for uneasiness in the governor's con- ^*^^^"-
duct. The ship that sailed early in April on its
homeward trip, carried letters from Richer and
Chartier to Calvin and to another correspondent,
extolling in rapturous terms their " brother and
father" the sieur de Villegagnon.'' The colony
under his pious care presents the appearance of
a Christian household, or rather of a church, like
that which in apostolic times gathered in the
house of Nymphas. From this nucleus, it is to
be hoped, illustrious churches shall spring forth,

* " Apres qu'on avoit laisse la besongne." — Lescarbot.
' See these letters, in the appendix to this volume.

42 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS : BRAZIL.

introd. and overspread the vast continent of Antarctic

j^cy, France, which is now waiting for the Gospel.

April. Concerning the barbarous inhabitants of the
land, the ministers write with undissembled hor-
ror. Not only are they accustomed to eat
human flesh, but they seem to be in all respects
sunk to the very level of the beasts, not know-
ino- good from evil, and having no conception of
the being of a God. The ministers are op-
pressed with a sense of their inability to reach
these perishing heathen, with the good news of
Redemption. Their unacquaintance with the
language of the aborigines, and the want of com-
petent interpreters, shut them off from immediate
effort in this direction. But great things are ex-
pected of the young men who have come from

Plans Geneva expressly to learn the native dialect, and
arywork. prepare themselves to preach the Gospel to the
savages. They have already begun this work,
and are spending their time on shore among the
people. God grant, adds Richer, that this may
be without peril to their own souls.

Villegagnon himself wrote to the great re-
former, by the same ship. His letter is not
surpassed by that of Richer and Chartier, in the
profusion of its assurances of respect and devo-
tion. He acknowledo^es the letter which he has
received from Calvin by these brethren, and
promises for himself and for his colony that the
counsels given shall be observed even to the min-
utest particulars. He rejoices in the coming of
the ministers, to relieve him of the burden
of care for the spiritual interests of his fol-

VILLEGAGNON WRITES TO CALVIN. 43

lowers, and to aid him by their advice and introd.
sympathy in all things. He recounts the hard- j^y
ships and perplexities of his undertaking, and April,
especially his anxieties for the moral and religious
welfare of the colonists. Nothing, indeed, but
a regard for his own good name, prevents him
from doincr as others have done, and abandoninof
the enterprise. But he is confident that, hav-
ing a work to do for Christ, he will be sustained
and prospered. He closes his long letter with
best wishes for the lengthened life and usefulness
of the reformer and his colleagues, and sends
his special salutations to the pious Renee of
France, the daughter of Louis XH., and the
warm friend of Calvin and of the Protestant
cause.

Before the vessel that bore these letters could Gathering
reach its destination, the aspect of affairs on the
island Coligny had greatly changed. Villegag-
non's zeal for orthodoxy and strictness of living
had passed into captiousness and querulousness,
ending in pronounced opposition. He began by
finding fault with the manner of celebrating the
Lord's Supper and of administering Baptism,
as practiced by the Genevan ministers. Pro-
testing that he wished only to know and
to follow the teachings of the Gospel, he sent
one of the ministers, Guillaume Chartier, to
France, by a vessel homeward bound from the
coast of Brazil, in order to confer with the prin-
cipal Reformed theologians upon certain ques-
tions of dogma and casuistry which he had

44 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS: BRAZIL.

introd. raised.' The same ship carried to France ten
jTTy. young savages, who had been captured in war
by one of the native tribes friendly to the
French, and sold to Villegagnon as slaves,
chartier's These were designed as a present to the king,
nussion. ^^j^^ graciously received them, and distributed
them among the nobles of his court. Villegag-
non did not wait for the minister's return, "" to
announce his conclusions with reference to the
Protestant doctrines. He soon declared that
his opinion of Calvin had been changed, and
that he now held the so-called reformer to be
an arch-heretic and an apostate. Villegagnon
attributed this change in his religious views to
the arguments of one Jean Contat,^ a student

* According to De Lery — who, however, confesses his
inability to understand Villegagnon's views — he rejected
both the doctrine of Transubstantiation and that of Con-
substantiation, and yet held to the bodily presence of Christ
in the Lord's Supper, in a sense peculiarly his own. The
practical questions upon which he professed a desire for in-
struction, were such as these : Whether the Lord's Supper
should be celebrated with a certain degree of pomp : whether
the wine should be mingled with water : whether unleavened
bread ought to be used : whether, if any of the consecrated
bread should remain after the celebration of the ordinance, it
ought to be set aside as sacred, etc. — La France Protestante,
deuxieme edition. Vol. IIL, p. 795.

^ Chartier, indeed, did not return to Brazil. He incurred
Calvin's displeasure by delaying the fulfillment of his mission
for several months after his arrival in Europe. His ex-
cuse was, that certain important despatches, which he was
expecting from Brazil, had been withheld by Vijlegagnon.
Nothing is known positively concerning Chartier's subse-
quent career ; but there are reasons for identifying him with
a minister of the same name, who was chaplain to Jeanne
d'Albret, about the year 1581. — La France Protestante :
ubi supra.

' " Un nomme Jean Contat etudiant de Sorbonne, aspir-

CHANGE IN VILLEGAGNON. 45

of the University of Paris, who had abjured the introd.
Roman Catholic faith, but who soon began to 1557.
discuss points of theology with the ministers,
generally taking the side of Rome. It was
shrewdly suspected, however, that certain letters
of warnine which the commander received about
this time from France had more to do with
his conversion.' Villegagnon found that in his
professions of friendliness toward the Reformed
religion he had gone too far. While seeking to
ingratiate himself with Coligny and the Protest-
ant party, whose favor he needed for the suc-
cess of his expedition, he was in danger of
incurring the displeasure of the king.

The colonists were sorely disappointed in His eccen-
their leader. But they had still greater cause
for uneasiness, in view of the change of temper
that accompanied this change of religious pro-
fession. Villegagnon became moody and ca-
pricious. His eccentric manners, indicating an
unbalanced mind, his frequent outbursts of

ant secretement a je ne sais quelle dignite episcopale aussi
fantastique qu'etait le royaume de Villegagnon, etant venu
le jour destine pour celebrer la Cene, demanda ou etaient
les habillemens sacerdotaux, et commenga de disputer du
pain sans levain, qu'il disait etre necessaire, et de meler de
I'eau avec le vin de la Cene, avec autres questions sembla-
bles. . . . Le different ne laissa pas de croitre, voire
jusques a ce point, que Richer faisant un bapteme, condam-
nant la superstition qu'on y ajoute, Villegagnon dementit
tout hautement le ministre, protestant de ne se trouver plus
a ses sermons, et de n'adherer a la secte qu'il appellait
calvinienne." — De Beze, Histoire universelle, livre II.

' " Sollicite, comme 1' on croit, par les lettres du Cardinal
de Lorraine." — De Thou, Histoire Universelle, tome II., p.
383-

46 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS : BRAZIL.

introd. violent rage, and the cruel punishments he in-
1557- flicted on any that displeased him, alienated and
disgusted his followers. Several of them aban-
doned the colony, and went off to seek their
fortune in the wilderness. More than one
conspiracy against the governor's life was de-
tected among the soldiers and seamen on the
island. Toward Du Pont and his associates, he
now showed himself haughty and overbearing.
At length they declared plainly to the com-
mander, that since he had rejected the Gospel,
they considered themselves no longer bound to
serve him, and refused to work at the building
Rupture of the fort. Thereupon, Villegagnon cut short
oLevesl their provisions, and threatened to put them in
irons. The threat precipitated a rupture which
could not have been long deferred. Du Pont
answered for his brethren, that they would not
submit to such treatment ; and that inasmuch as
he was not disposed to maintain them in the ex-
ercise of their religion, they renounced his
authority. Villegagnon quailed before this fear-
less and determined attitude, and made no at-
tempt to execute his threat. But not long
after, he resolved to rid himself altogether of the
Protestant leaders, and ordered them to leave
the island. They obeyed at once — "Although,"
observes one of them in his narrative of the ex-
pedition, " we, ourselves, might have readily
driven him from the place, but we would give
him no occasion to complain of us." Removing
to the main land, they awaited the departure of
a ship from the coast of Normandy, which was

DU PONT LEAVES THE ISLAND. 47

then taking in her cargo for the homeward introd.

trip.' 1557-

The Genevese had spent eight months on the
island CoHgny.^ Two months more elapsed
before the vessel was ready to sail. Meanwhile
Du Pont and his companions, who were now at
liberty to employ themselves as they pleased,
beguiled the time by visiting some of the
friendly tribes of Indians in the neighborhood.
The savages appear to have been singularly
susceptible of religious emotions. One day, psaim-
Jean de Lery tells us, as he was walking in tSrlst^
the forest, accompanied by three or four of the
natives, the grandeur and beauty of the tropical
scenery so enchanted him that he could not re-
frain from singing, and he broke forth in the
words of the metrical psalm : " S71S, s?(S, mon
ante, il te faiit dire biai.''^ His companions,

' De Lery, Histoire d'un Voyage fait en la Terre du Bre-
sil, p. 95. De Thou, Histoire Universelle, tome H., p. 383.
^ Two of Du Font's followers, the sieurs de la Cha-
pelle and du Boissi, remained with Villegagnon after the
departure of the others ; but they soon joined their brethren
on the main. — (De Lery, p. 378.)

^ Sus, sus, mon ame, il te faut dire bien
De I'Eternel : 6 mon vrai Dieu, combien
Ta grandeur est excellent' et notoire !
Tu es vestu de splendeur et de gloire :
Tu es vestu de splendeur proprement,
Ne plus ne moins que d'un accoustrement :
Pour pavilion que d'un tel Roi soit digne,
Tu rends le ciel ainsi qu'une courtine

Lambris^ d'eaux est ton palais voust^ :
En lieu de char, sur la nue es port6 :
Et les forts vents qui parmi Pair souspirent
Ton chariot avec leurs ailes tirent.

48 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS : BRAZIL.

introd. filled with surprise and delight, asked the mean-
1557- ing- of the words. When this had been explained
to them, they exclaimed, using- their ordinary
expression of wonder and admiration, ''Teh! O
how happy are 3"ou, to know so many things that
are hidden from us poor miserable creatures ! " '
A On another occasion, a few of the French were

Brazilian .... , .... ^ .

village, entertained with great hospitality in one oi the
principal villages of the region, some miles back
from the coast. The whole population of the
place collected around the strangers, as they
seated themselves at the feast prepared for them,
the old men of the village, proud of the honor
shown to their people by the visit of these dis-
tinguished guests, constituting themselves a
body guard to keep the children from disturbing
them. Each of them was armed with a curious
weapon; two or three feet long, in the shape of a
saw, made of the spine of a large fish. At the
close of the feast, one of these old men ap-
proached the party, and asked the meaning of a
strange procedure which he had noticed. Twice
— before partaking of food, and again after eat-
ing— he had seen the Frenchmen remove their
hats, and remain perfectly still, while one of their

Des vents aussi diligens et legers

Fais tes herauts, postes et messagers :

Et foudre et feu fort prompts a ton service,

Sont les sergeans de ta haute justice. Ps. civ.

' " Usant de leur interjection desbahissement Teh ! ils
dirent, O que vous autres Mairs estent heureux de scavoir
tant de secrets qui sont cachez a nous chetifs & pouvres
miserables." — De L^ry. Histoire d'un Voyage fait en la
Terre du Bresil, p. 290.

PREACHING TO THE SAVAGES. 49

number uttered some words. To whom was he introd.
speaking ? Was it to them, or to some person i7cy.
not present? The pious Huguenots thought
this a providential opening for the instruction of
these savages in the true rehgion ; and they
hastened to enter it, with the help of the inter-
preter who accompanied them. They told them
of the great God to whom they prayed, and who,
though they could not see Him, heard their words
and knew their most secret thoughts. It was this
God who had brought them in safety across the
wide ocean, preserving them during a voyage of
many months, while they were out of sight of the
solid land ; and because they served Him and
trusted in Him, they had no fear of being tor-
mented bv Aio-na — the dreaded demon of these
savages — either in this life or in one to come.
They exhorted their hearers to abandon the
errors taught them by their lying priests, and
especially to leave off the barbarous practice of
eating the flesh of their enemies, promising them
that if they would do this, they should enjoy the
same blessings with themselves. The Indians
listened with breathless attention to the account Attentive
of the creation of the world and the fall of man,
in which, says Jean de Lery, who was the spokes-
man, " I endeavored to show them man's lost con-
dition, and so prepare them to receive Jesus
Christ." The discourse lasted two hours, and left
the audience in a state of great amazement. At
length one of the old men replied. " Certainly,"
said he, "these are wonderful things that you
have told us, and things that are very good,

50 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS: BRAZIL.

introd. though \ve have never known them till now.
j~.~ Nevertheless, your words have brought to my
mind what we have often heard our fathers
relate, namely, that long ago, so many moons
that we have not been able to keep the reckon-
An Indian ing of them, there came a JMair — a European —
clothed and bearded like some of you, who tried
to persuade our people to obey your God, tell-
ing them what you have just told us. But our
people would not believe his teachings ; and
when he left there came another, who gave them
a sword, in token of a curse,' and from that time
to this we have slain one another wath the
sword, insomuch that, having become used to it,
if now we should forsake our ancient custom, all
the other tribes around us would laugh us to
scorn." - The French warmly remonstrated with

' De Lery speculates as to the Alair who had come so
many hundreds of years before to announce the true God to
the natives of Brazil, and somewhat thnidly ventures the
query, "si c'auroit point este I'un des Apostres." As for
the one who followed, he suggests the apocalyptic vision of
the red horse and him that sat thereon, to whom it was
given " to take peace from the earth, and that they should
kill one another : and there was given unto him a great
sword." — Revelation, vi. 4.

^ " Nous fusmes plus de 2. heures sur ceste matiere de
la creation, dont pour brievete ie ne feray ici plus long dis-
cours. Or tous prestans I'oreille, avec grande admiration
escoutoyent attentivement de maniere qu'estans entrez en
esbahissement de ce qu'ils auoyent ouy, il y eut un
vieillard qui prenant la parole dit : Certainement vous
nous auez dit merueilles, & choses tres bonnes que nous
n'auions iamais entendiies : toutesfois, dit-il, vostre harengue
m'a fait rememorer ce que nous auos ouy reciter beaucoup
de fois a nos grads peres : assauoir que des longtemps &
d^s le nombre de tat de Lunes que nous n'en auons pus

TRANSIENT IMPRESSIONS. 5 1

their hearers. They entreated them to disre- introd.
gard the foolish ridicule to which they might jTZ
be subjected, and assured them that if they
would worship and serve the one living and true
God, He would help them ; and should their
enemies attack them on that account, they
should vanquish them all. " In short," says Jean
de Lery, " our hearers were so moved by the
power which God gave to our words, that some
of them promised to follow our teachings, and
declared that they would never again eat
human flesh : and the interview closed with
a prayer offered by one of our company,
which our interpreter translated into their lan-
guage, the savages kneeling together with us,"
It must be added, however, that the hopes
awakened in the hearts of the zealous mission-
aries were soon grievously disappointed : for in
the middle of the night, as they lay in the ham-
mocks which the hospitable savages had pro-
vided for them, they heard the whole band sing- The war-
ing a war-song, the purport of which was, that ^°^'
to revenge themselves on their enemies, they

retenir le conte, un Matr, c'est a dire Frangois ou etranger
vestu & barbu comme aucuns de vous autres, vint en ce pays
ici, lequel pour les penser ranger a I'obeissance de vostre
Dieu, leur tint le mesme lagage que vous nous auez main-
tenant tenu : mais comme nous tenons aussi de peres en fils,
ils ne le voulurent pas croire : & partant il en vint vn autre
qui en signe de malediction leur bailla I'espee, dequoy depuis
nous nous sommes tousiours tuez I'vn I'autre ; tellement,
qu'en estans entrez si auant en possession, si maintenant
laissans nostre coustume nous desistions, toutes les nations
qui nous sont voisines se moqueroyent denous." — DeLery,
pp. 283, 284.

homeward
voyage,

52 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS: BRAZIL.

introd. must slay and eat more victims than ever be-
j77__ fore. " Such," says De Lery, " is the inconstancy
of these poor people, a striking ilkistration of
human depravity. " Notwithstanding," he adds,
" I verily believe that if Villegagnon had not
proved recreant to the Reformed religion, and
had we have remained longer in that country,
some of them misfht have been attracted and
won to Christ." '

There are few accounts of peril and suffering
at sea more frightful than that of the returning
voyage of Du Pont and his companions, from
Xhe the coast of Brazil. The story has been mi-
nutely told by two of the sufferers, the minister
Richer, and Jean de Lery. The ship on which
they had taken passage proved to be a crazy
bark, leaky and worm-eaten, and almost water-
logged. Before they were out of sight of land,
five of the party losing heart asked to be sent
back. They were accordingly put in a boat,
and reached the shore safely, but only to meet
from Villegagnon a worse fate than that of their
brethren. The rest pursued their way ; and
after five months, in the course of which a
number died of sheer starvation, the survivors
landed in a state of indescribable misery, upon
the coast of Bretaorne. But their dansfers were
not over when they had escaped the perils of
the sea. Villegagnon had intrusted the master

' " Toutesfois i' ay opinion que si Villegagnon ne se fust
reuolte de la Religion reformee, & que nous fussions de-
meurez plus longtemps en ce pays la, qu'on en eust attir^ &
gagne quelques vns a lesus Christ."

VILLEGAGNON'S TREACHERY. 53

of the ship with a packet of letters, to be de- intxod.
livered to certain persons on his arrival in iTTs.
France. Among these letters, there was one
addressed to the nearest magistrate. It con-
tained a formal accusation against the bearers,
as heretics, and recommended that they be forth-
with consigned to the stake. Happily, the sieur
Du Pont, the leader of the little band, took coun-
sel with some magistrates whom he found to be
well affected toward the Protestant cause.
These, so far from molesting the travelers, en-
tertained them with the 'utmost kindness, and
sent them on their journey.'

Little remains to be said of the unfortunate sufferers
Brazilian expedition. Three of the five men faith.*
who had turned back to the ship, were at once
sentenced by Villegagnon to be drowned, as
heretics and rebels. The names of these suf-
ferers have been preserved, and enrolled in the
martyrology of the French Reformation. They
were Pierre Bourdon,'' Jean du Bordel, and
Mathieu Verneuil. " Thus," observes Jean de

' Pierre Richer, dit de Lisle, made his way to La Ro-
chelle, where he found the nucleus of a Protestant congre-
gation, which had been gathered by Charles de Clermont a
few months before. He deserves, says Callot, to be re-
garded as the father of the Rochellese reformation, because
of the part he took in the organization of the church in that
place. On Sunday, November 17, 1558, he officiated at the
formation of the first Consistory of La Rochelle. (La Ro-
chelle protestante, pp. 24, 25.) Richer died in La Rochelle,
March 8, 1580. (Ibid. See also Delmas, Eglise reformee
de la Rochelle, p. 434).

" Pierre Bourdon was a native of Ambonay in Cham-
pagne, France, who had taken refuge at Geneva in Septem-
ber, 1555.

54 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS: BRAZIL.

introd. Lery, " Villegagnon was the first to shed the
1558. blood of God's children in that newly-discovered
country ; and because of that cruel deed, he has
well been called the Cain of America^

Of the Protestants who had remained on the
island, a number now escaped to the continent.
They soon fell into the hands of the Portu-
guese, who were not more disposed than the
treacherous Villegagnon to show mercy to Cal-
vinists. One of the fugitives was induced by
threats or by promises to renounce his faith.
Three others were thrown into prison. Among
Jean thesc was a man of note, lean Boles, a scholar

Boies. . •'

versed in the Greek and Hebrew languages.
The Jesuits spared no effort to persuade him to
follow his companion's example. Boles, how-
ever, remained firm throughout a captivity of
eight years. At the end of that time, the Jesuit
1567. Provincial ordered him to be brought to the
newly-founded city of St. Sebastian — now Rio de
Janeiro — and there put to a cruel death, in
order that any of his Protestant countrymen, still
lingering in that region, might take warning
by his fate. The Jesuit writers represent this
martyr as having recanted shortly before his ex-
ecution. If so, his recantation must have been
made, according to their own showing, under
promise of reprieve, or of an easier mode of
death. For they relate, that when the execu-
tioner showed awkwardness in the performance
of his work, the Provincial interposed, and gave
him directions how to dispatch the heretic more
speedily, " fearing lest he should become impa-

THE COLONY BROKEN UP. 55

tient, being an obstinate man, and newly re- introd,
claimed." 1267.

Meanwhile, Villegagnon's colony had been
entirely broken up by the Portuguese. Soon
after the departure of Du Pont and the other
Protestant leaders for Europe, the commander
himself returned to France, where he at once
avowed himself a zealous champion of the
Church of Rome.' It was noticed that this August
change of faith coincided with Coligny's impris- ^''''^^^^•
onment by the Spaniards after the defeat of St.
Quentin. The powerful patron upon whose help
he had depended for the carrying out of his am-
bitious plans, was now in captivity ; and Ville-
o^ag^non souorht a new master.^

' There seems to be no room for doubt as to Ville-
gagnon's duplicity. That he professed to favor the Reformed
doctrines, the accounts given by De Lery, Lescarbot, Theo-
dore de Beze^ and Agrippa d'Aubigne, and his own letter
to Calvin (see the appendix to this volume,) abundantly
prove. On the other hand, the Roman Catholic writers
make no mention of a departure from the Roman faith :
and he appears upon his return to France only as a
vehement foe of Protestantism, using both sword and pen
against its adherents. If Claude Haton is to be credited,
Villegagnon carried with him to Brazil all the requisites for
the celebration of the Mass (" ornemens d'eglise pour dire
la messe." — Memoires, I., 38.) An estimate of his character
would be incomplete, however, that should not take into
account, together with his insincerity, his eccentricities of
conduct while in Brazil, indicating apparently some degree
of mental aberration.

'^ Villegagnon died January 15, 157 1. He was a native
of Provins, in Champagne. His fellow-townsman, Claude
Haton, eulogizes him as a valiant servant of the king, and
defender of the Church, "ennemy capital " of the heretical
Huguenots, whom he opposed to his utmost with temporal
and spiritual arms. " 11 a faict plusieurs beaux livres latins

56 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS: BRAZIL.

introd. Early in the year 1560, a Portuguese fleet
1560. arrived at Rio de Janeiro. The little garri-
son which Villegagnon had left in charge of
Fort Coligny was overpowered after a brave
resistance. Some of the occupants escaped to
the main land, where they sought refuge among
the savages ; others w^ere mercilessly butchered ;
and soon every trace of the French occupation
disappeared from the island.

Coligny's first experiment in colonization had
failed, and the hopes that had been awakened
throughout Protestant France, of a place of
refuge from religious oppression in the New
Coligny World, lay prostrate. But Coligny himself was
couraged. not One to be discouraged by failure. There was
much to account for the ill success of the expe-
dition to Brazil, especially in the character and
conduct of its chief ; but for whose faithlessness
or imbecility, it must have seemed then as it has
seemed since, a French colony might have flour-
ished at Rio de Janeiro, and the dream of an
" Antarctic France " mio;ht have been realized.
Such a settlement would have speedily re-
ceived large accessions, and would have found
itself strong enough to hold its ground against
the enemy. Indeed, when the news of Ville-
gagnon's treachery reached Europe, a company
of emigrants, numbering seven or eight hund-

et frangoys, pour confuter la faulse oppinion de son com-
paignon d'escolle, Jehan Calvin, de Genefve, et autres predi-
cans de la faulse oppinion lutherienne et huguenoticque."
(Memoires de Claude Haton, publics par M. Felix Bourque-
lot. Paris, 1857. Tome IL, p. 623.) ,

A FAVORABLE JUNCTURE. 57

red, was preparing to join the colony ; and it introi
was estimated by Jean de Lery, that ten thou- 1562.
sand French Protestants would soon have crossed
the ocean to Brazil'

The baseness of one man had ruined the
scheme which promised so much for France and
for America. But there were others in the Prot-
estant ranks, tried and trusted leaders, who
stood ready for a. second venture, upon Coligny's
bidding ; and the harbors of Bretagne and Nor-
mandy swarmed with men as ready to follow.
The times also, if not brighter, were more op-
portune. The Huguenots, as they now began to
be called, had become a recognized power in the
land ; with two princes of the blood — Antoine,
kinof of Navarre, and his brother, Louis, prince
of Conde — at their head. There was a lull in
the storm of persecution. Nearly thirty-seven
years had passed since Jean Leclerc, the first con-
picuous martyr of the Reformation in France,

' " Car quoy qu' aucuns disent, veu le peu de temps que
ces choses ont dure, ^ que n'y estoit a present non plus
de nouvelle de vraye Religion que de nom de Francois pour
y habiter, qu'on n'en doit faire estime : nonobstant telles
allegations, ce que j'ay dit ne laisse pas de demeurer tou-
siours tellement vray, que tout ainsi que I'Evangile du fils de
Dieu a este de nos jours annonce en ceste quarte partie du
monde dite Amerique, aussi est-il tres certain si 1' affaire
eust este aussi bien poursuivi qu'il avoit este heureusement
commence, que 1' un & 1' autre Regne spirituel »Sr temporel,
y avoyent si bien prins pied de nostre temps, que plus de
dix mille personnes de la nation Frangoise y seroient main-
tenant en aussi plein & seure possession pour nostre Roy,
que les Espagnols y sont au nom de leurs." — Histoire d' un
Voyage fait en la Terre du Bresil. P. 2.

58 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS : FLORIDA.

In trod.

1525-
July 22.

Edict

of July,

1561.

had been burned at Metz ; and each inter-
vening year had witnessed the sufferings, in
every part of the kingdom, 0/ those who had
been tried, condemned, and sentenced to the
prison, the torture or the stake, for the crime of
heresy. Edict after edict of the government
had pronounced the penalties of imprisonment,
confiscation of goods, and death, upon the fol-
lowers of Luther and Calvin, and while enforc-
ing persecution under the forms of law, had en-
couraeed the countless deeds of violence which
a lawless populace stood always ready to perpe-
trate. The latest of these edicts was the most
severe and sweeping. It inflicted punishment
by imprisonment and confiscation upon all who,
whether armed or unarmed, should attend
any heretical service of worship, public or pri-
vate. The passage of this law intensified the
feelings of hostility, which were soon to break
out into open strife, between the two great re-
ligious parties. While the Romanists exulted,
the Protestants did not conceal their indignation.
Even Coligny, pacific, and anxious to avert the
impending calamity of civil war, declared plainly
that the " Edict of July," as it was called, could
never be carried into effect. But meanwhile,
as the strength of the Protestant party grew
more apparent, and its position more menacing,
the necessity of conciliation became obvious to
the court. Catharine de Medici, now regent of
the kingdom during the minority of her son
Charles IX., turned to Coligny for advice.
The Admiral counseled toleration ; and to

THE " NEW RELIGION " RECOGNIZED. 59

show the expediency of toleration, he presented introd.
to Catharine a list of the Protestant churches of 1561.
France, already numbering two thousand one
hundred and fifty, that asked for freedom and
protection in the exercise of their religion. His
advice was heeded ; and the ** Edict of July"
was followed, six months later, by the "Edict of Edict of
January," 1562. It was now that for the first Tse?^'
time the existence of "the new religion " became
recognized in France as legal, and as claiming
some degree of protection under the laws. The
penalties previously pronounced on its adherents
were provisionally repealed, until a general Coun-
cil of the Church could be called for the settle-
ment of all questions of religious faith. Prot-
estants throughout the kingdom were to be ex-
empt from all molestation, while proceeding on
their way to their religious assemblies and in
returning from them ; and the presence of an
officer of the government at every ecclesiastical
meeting gave dignity and legality to the pro-
ceedings of the Protestant consistories, collo-
quies, and synods.

Such was the favorable juncture which Coligny
chose for a second effort to accomplish his cher-
ished plan of American colonization. Little did civil
the sagacious statesman and chieftain dream JndiU^'
that the year which was opening so auspiciously
would prove one of the darkest in the history of
France ! Six weeks from the date of the promul-
gation of the Edict of January, the massacre at
Vassy precipitated the outbreak of the First Civil
War; and for the next ten months the kingdom

6o ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS : FLORIDA.

introd. was a scene of horrible massacre and devasta-

1562. tion.

All this was happily unforeseen by the brave
men who set sail from the port of Havre, in

February Normandy, on the eighteenth day of February,
^^" 1562, for the coast of Florida. At their head
was Jean Ribaut, an experienced officer of the
Reformed party, whom Coligny had chosen to
lead them. Preparations for the expedition had
been going on for some months in that harbor,
of which the Admiral had lately been appointed

The Expe- governor ; and a goodly number of volunteers
*^*"°' had responded to the invitation to join it.
" . Nearly all the soldiers and laborers, as well as a
few noblemen who presented themselves, were
Calvinists. The only names that have come
down to us are those of Rene de Laudonniere,
Nicolas Barre, Nicolas Mallon, Fiquinville,
Sale, Albert, Lacaille, the drummer Guernache,
and the soldiers Lachere, Aymon, Rouffi, and
Martin Atinas. The first of these, Rene de
Laudonniere, was no ordinary man. An experi-
enced navigator, and a man of tried integrity,
he enjoyed the full confidence of Coligny, whom
he greatly resembled in character. Nicolas
Barre had accompanied Villegagnon in the ex-
pedition to Brazil. Others of the party were
veteran seamen, and were familiar with the re-
gion about to be visited.

To avoid the Spaniards, Ribaut took a more
direct course across the Atlantic than that which
was usually followed ; and on the last day of
April his little fleet, composed of two staunch

THE RIVER OF MAY. 6 1

but unwieldy ships, arrived off the coast of introd.
Florida. Proceeding northward along the coast, 1^2.
they found themselves the next day at the mouth
of a large river, which they named the River of May 1.
May — now the St. John's. Here they landed ;
and the first impulse of the Huguenots was to
kneel down upon the shore, in thanksgiving to
God, and in prayer that he would bless their
enterprise, and that he would bring to the knowl-
edge of the Saviour the heathen Inhabitants of
this new world. Their actions were watched
with wonder by a company of the friendly na-
tives, who had gathered fearlessly around them
and who sat motionless during the strange cere-
monial. After this, Ribaut took formal pos-
session of the country in the name of the King
of France, and set up a pillar of stone, engraven
with the royal arms, upon a small elevation in a
grove of cypress and palm trees near the harbor.
Returning to their ships, the French continued
the exploration of the coast, until they reached a
broad estuary to which they gave a name which
it has retained to the present day. It was the Port
channel of Port Royal. The voyagers had ^°y*^
passed the northern limit of Florida, as it was
to be defined in later days, and, leaving untried
the shallow inlets along the sandy shore of
Georgia, found themselves off the coast of
South Carolina. Entering the harbor, *' one o"f
the largest and fairest of the greatest havens of .
the world," Ribaut decided here to lay the
foundations of a colony. The site of a fort was
chosen, not far from the present town of Beau-

62 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS : FLORIDA.

introd. fort. It was called Charlesfort, in honor of the
1562. boy-king who had lately come to the throne of
France. Ribaut did not wait to see the work
completed. His present voyage was one of ex-
ploration chiefly. Report of the discoveries
made and the enterprise begun must be carried
to the king ; and larger supplies of men and of
means for the establishment of the colony must
be secured. Leaving, therefore, a few of his
followers to garrison the little fort, Ribaut, with
Laudonniere and the others, set sail for Europe,
and arrived in Dieppe on the twentieth day of
July, only five months from the time of their
embarkation.
Outbreak Meanwhile, however, civil war had broken
first civil out in France. The unprovoked attack of the
^"' Duke of Guise upon an assembly of Protestants,
met for worship in one of the towns of Cham-
pagne, and the slaughter of fifty or sixty inof-
fensive persons in cold blood, had stirred the
long suffering Huguenots as none of the many
preceding outrages inflicted upon them had
done. For the first time, they took up arms in
good earnest to defend their civil and religious
rights. The Protestant nobility of the kingdom
gathered around the Prince of Conde, their rec-
ognized leader. CoHgny himself, whose cautious
and patriotic spirit shrank from the prospect of
a civil conflict, at length decided to join his
brethren in the field. The moment was unfav-
orable, in which to plead for re-enforcements in
behalf of a distant colonv. Failino- in his efforts
to do this, or swept against his will into the

FATE OF CHARLESFORT. 6

current of political excitement at home, Ribaut introd.
entered the Protestant ranks under his old leader 1563.
the Admiral, and the next year, upon the re-
turn of peace, took refuge, for some reason,
in England.

The handful of men left in possession of the
fort near Port Royal, met a miserable fate. Un-
disciplined and improvident, they soon fell into
disputes among themselves, murdered their
captain, Albert, whom Ribaut had placed in
command, consumed all the supplies they had
brought with them, and after subsisting for
av/hile upon the charity of their generous savage
neighbors, set themselves in their desperation to
build a boat, upon which, after incredible suffer-
ings, they succeeded in reaching Europe.

Coligfnv was still icrnorant of this wretched second ex

,. -1 /, . 1 11-1 1 pedition.

failure of his second attempt to establish a col-
ony in America, when the peace of Amboise
brought the first civil war to a close, and set
him free to resume his efforts in behalf of com-
merce and colonization. Representing to the
king that no tidings had yet arrived from the
men whom Ribaut had left in Florida, he ob-
tained permission to fit out three ships, of sixty,
one hundred, and one hundred and twenty tons
respectively, to go in search of them, and to
bring them relief. Rene de Laudonniere was
chosen as chief of the new expedition, and a
number of noblemen, and of experienced officers
and sailors, volunteered to join it. Among the
noblemen were d'Ottigny, d'Erlach, officers,
and de la Rocheferriere, de Marillac, de Gron-

64 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS: FLORIDA

Introd.
1564-

LA CAROLINE. 65

taut, and Normans de Pompierre, who went introd.
as volunteers. Michel Vasseur commanded one 1564.
of the ships — the " Breton ; " Jean Lucas com-
manded the " Elisabeth," and Pierre Marchant
the " Faucon." Nicolas Vasseur and Trenchant
were pilots ; sergeant Lacaille was interpreter,
Jean Dehaies, carpenter, and Hance, artificer.
Among the seamen were Pierre Gambie, La
Roquette, Le Gendre, Martin Chauveau, Ber-
trand,' Sanferrent, La Croix, Estienne Gondeau,
Grandpre, Nicholas Lemaistre, Doublet, Four-
neaux, Estienne de Genes, Jacques Sale, Le
Mesureur, Barthelemy, Aymon, LaCrete, Grand-
chemin, Pierre Debray, and three brothers of
sergeant Lacaille. The expedition was accom-
panied by a draughtsman, Jacques Lemoyne de
Mourcrues.

The adventurers sailed from Havre in April, April 23c
1564. A voyage of no more than the usual
leno-th brought them to the mouth of the St.
John's, where Ribaut had first set up the arms of
France. Following the course of the river for a
short distance, Laudonniere chose a spot, six
miles from the sea, as the site of a projected
town, and at once began the building of a fort
which he named La Caroline. The locality is
now known as St. John's Bluff.' The Hugue-

' " The river St. John's ... is more like an arm of the
sea than a river ; from its mouth for a distance of fifteen
miles, it is spread over extensive marshes, and there are few
points where the channel touches the banks of the river. At
its mouth it is comparatively narrow, but immediately ex-
tends itself over wide-spread marshes ; and the first head-
land or shore which is washed by the channel is a place

66 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS : FLORIDA.

introd. nots after their pious usage inaugurated the
1564. work with their simple and hearty worship.
July 1. " There," in the language of the commander
himself, "we sang praises to the Lord, beseech-
ing Him that of His holy grace He would be
pleased to continue His accustomed goodness to
us, and henceforth help us in all our undertak-
ino-s, in such wise that the whole might redound
to His glory, and to the furtherance of our
faith. Prayers ended, each one began to take
courage."

But the brief history of this expedition was to
be one of disappointment and disaster through-
out. Not fourteen months from the day when
Laudonniere landed upon the bank of St. John's
river, full of hope and courage, the spot thus
consecrated with prayer and praise was red-
dened by the blood of his followers ; and another
of Colio-ny's experiments of colonization ter-

known as St. John's Bluff. Here the river runs closely by
the shore, making a bold, deep channel close up to the bank.
The land rises abruptly on one side into a hill of moderate
height, covered with a dense growth of pine, cedar, etc.
This hill gently slopes to the bank of the river, and runs off
to the southwest, where, at a distance of a quarter of a mile,
a creek discharges itself into the river, at a place called "the
shipyard " from time immemorial. I am not aware that any
remains of Fort Caroline, or any old remains of a fortress,
have ever been discovered here ; but it must be recollected
that this fort was constructed of sand and pine trees, and
that three hundred years have passed away — a period suffi-
cient to have destroyed a work of much more durable char-
acter. Moreover, it is highly probable, judging from present
appearances, that the constant abrasion of the banks, still
going on, has long since worn away the narrow spot where
stood Fort Caroline."— History and Antiquities of St. Au-
gustine, Florida, by George R. Fairbanks, M. A. Pp. 26, 27,

FORMER MISTAKES REPEATED. 67

minated in a horrible^ massacre. The events of introd.
that hapless year have been related with particu- 1565.
larity by the chroniclers of the time, and by later
writers. Suffice it to say here, that the French
re-enacted the mistakes and the misfortunes of
previous undertakings. They neglected the
cultivation of the soil, yielded to the seductions
of gold, and fell out among themselves. Their
policy toward the natives was injudicious.
Finding the savage tribes of the interior at war,
and anxious to secure the white man's help,
Laudonniere at first endeavored to maintain a
strict neutrality ; but he soon suffered himself to
be drawn into alliances that proved disastrous. "
As a leader, he showed a deplorable lack of Theieaa-

_ TIT' 1 • er's weak-

firmness. Insubordmation and conspiracy were ness.
too easily pardoned. The young nobles, who
had accompanied the expedition in the hope
that they might enrich themselves from the far-
famed treasures of the new world, were soured
and angered by their failure to discover gold in
Florida. They could not stoop to work for
their bread, and they took it ill when required
to do their part in the labors of fortification.
The Protestants, who composed the majority of
the expedition, complained of the indifference of
their leader to religion. No Huguenot pastor
had joined the colony ; and those who had been
accustomed to religious ministrations in the
camp, as well as at home, declared openly that
they would take the very first opportunity to
leave. But the direst calamity that befell the ill-
planned enterprise, was famine. By the second

68 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS : FLORIDA.

introd. summer, scarcity prevailed at La Caroline. No
1565. crops had been planted in the rich soil of the
surrounding lands, and though the river teemed
with fish, the colonists depended on their savage
neighbors for the food which they would not
condescend to obtain for themselves.

From this record of mistakes and calamitous
errors, it is pleasant to turn for a moment to
some redeeming facts in the story of the French
in Florida. Unlike the Spaniards, they treated
the savage inhabitants of the country with much
gentleness ; and their brief occupation left no
Psalm- such memories of cruelty as the earlier visits of
Florida, the Spanish adventurers had left. The simple-
minded children of the forest v/ere greatly im-
pressed with the habitual gayety and good na-
ture of the French, and they were especially
captivated by the sonorous singing in which the
Huguenots perpetually indulged. Long after
the breaking up of Laudonniere's colony, the
European, cruising along the coast, or landing
upon the shore, would be saluted with some
snatch of a French psalm uncouthly rendered by
Indian voices, in strains caught from the Calvin-
ist soldier on patrol, or from the boatman ply-
ing his oar on the river.' No fierce imprecation
or profane expletive lingered in the recollection
of the red men, as the synonym for a French
Protestant.

' Le Challeux, who states this, gives the words " Du
fond de ma pensee" and " Bienheureux est quiconque sei't d
Dieic volontiers,'' as frequently used by the Indians in this

SIR JOHN HAWKINS. 69

Laudonnlere at length reluctantly decided to introd.
abandon the expedition, and return to Europe. 1-65.
Of the three small and frail vessels which had
brought his followers over, only one remained
that could be made sea-worthy. By the first
days of August, the carpenters had completed
their work ; and the French were making ready
for departure, when a fleet appeared off the August
mouth of the St. John's. The four ships of
which it was composed were commanded by the
famous English navigator John Hawkins. His
coming was friendly ; he willingly relieved from
his naval stores the most pressing necessities of
the French, and he offered to transport them all
to France. Laudonniere declined this offer, but
availed himself of the Englishman's kindness by
purchasing one of his ships at a nominal price.
Scarcely had this visitor disappeared, when an- '*'27^^*
other fleet was seen in the offing. Its admiral
was Jean Ribaut, the leader of the former expe-
dition.

Reports unfavorable to the character of Lau-
donniere had reached France. Coligny decided
to recall him, and at the same time to send a
much larger force for the occupation of Florida.
Seven ships, some of them of considerable size,
were fitted out for this purpose. They carried
not far from one thousand men. A number of
Huguenot gentlemen joined the expedition as
volunteers. Amongf them were the sieurs de la
Blonderie, d'Ully, de Beauchaire, de Lagrange,
de San Marain, du Vest, de Jonville. Of the
officers, the names of Jacques Ribaut, Maillard,

70 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS: FLORIDA.

introd. de Machonville, Jean Dubois, Valuot, Cosette,
1565. Louis Ballaud, Nicolas Verdier, de Saint-Clerk,
de la Vigne, Du Lys, and Le Beau have come
down to us. Among the artisans, seamen
and soldiers, were Nicolas le Challeux, of
Dieppe, Nicaise de la Crotte, Francois Duval,
Elie Desplanques, Jacques Tauze, Christophe
Lebreton, Drouet, Jacques Dulac, Masselin,
Jehan Mennin, Gros, Bellot, Martin, Pierre
Rennat, Jacques, Vincent Simon, and Michel
Gonnor. This time, the religious wants of the
adventurers were not forgotten. At least one
clergyman,' Robert by name, accompanied them.
The minister had an efficient helper in Le Chal-
leux, the ship-carpenter, a man of advanced
years, and well versed in Holy Scripture.^
Third ex- Jean Ribaut was called home from England
pedition. ^^ command this fleet, which sailed from the
harbor of Dieppe, in the latter part of May, and
arrived at the mouth of St. John's river on the
twenty-seventh of August. The larger ships
remained at anchor, while Ribaut with three
smaller vessels sailed up the river to La Caro-
line. Laudonniere, summoned on board the
flag-ship, was soon able to clear himself from
the charges which Ribaut brought to his notice,
and the old associates were friends once more.

' Gaffarel intimates that more than one minister was
sent. — Histoire de la Floride frangaise, par Paul Gaffard.
P. 195. " Maitre Robert, qui avoit charge de faire les
prieres," is the only one mentioned by Le Challeux.

^ A graphic account of the expedition from the pen of
this pious Huguenot has been preserved.

A COMMON DANGER. 7^

But a common danger was now to cement their introd.
fortunes. Five days after Ribaut's arrival, tid- 1565-
ings were signaled from the coast that another September
fleet had come in sight. It was late in the after-
noon ; a heavy fog was just lifting, and in
the dusk the sentinels at the mouth of the
river could not distinguish the nationality of
the ships. The night of the third of Septem-
ber wore away anxiously at La Caroline. But
with the dawn of the following day all uncertainty
vanished. Ribaut's larQ^er vessels were now
seen to have left their anchoracfe, and to be
making for the open sea. They had descried the
approaching fleet, and recognized a dreaded foe.
The Spaniards had come. Spain and France The
were for the time at peace. But Spain had al- ^p^^^^^^^.
ways denied the right of France in the New
World. Florida belonged to Spain by virtue of
discovery ; and though the Spaniards had been
unsuccessful heretofore in their attempts to
conquer the country, they did not propose to
surrender their claim to a rival power. Least
of all would they permit the hated Huguenot
to establish himself upon those shores. No
sooner did Philip the Second learn that such an j^arch 22.
attempt had actually been made, than he com-
missioned one of his bravest and most resolute
captains to dislodge the audacious intruder.
Pedro Menendez de Abila had now come with a
strong force to execute this commission. His
fleet consisted of some fifteen vessels, several of
them ships of large tonnage. They carried
twenty-six hundred men, Spanish and Portu-

'J2 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS : FLORIDA.

introd. guese, the latter of whom were to distinguish
1565. themselves by their demon-like ferocity.

Menendez hoped to take the French una-
wares. Failing in this, he landed his men at a
spot thirty miles south of the St. John's, near
the present city of St. Augustine. Meanwhile
the French at La Caroline were consulting as to
the course to be pursued in view of this sudden
danpfer. Laudonniere was for streno-thenincf the
Council of fort, and harassing the enemy by land, in a se-
ijepTe^mber ries of skirmishes, aided by the friendly savages.
^' The wisdom of this policy seemed obvious to
all the members of the council of war, save one.
Ribaut alone insisted upon a naval engagement.
His plan was to fall upon the enemy's ships, and
after disarming them, attack and destroy the
forces already landed. Remonstrances and ar-
guments availed nothing. Laudonniere was no
longer in command. Had his advice been taken,
" Florida," says the enthusiastic historian of La
Floridc Frangaisc, " would have remained a
French country."
September The four ships whIch had taken flight upon
the approach of the Spaniards, now re-appeared.
Ribaut ordered all his soldiers on board, to-
gether with as many of Laudonniere's men as
were fit for service. Only those who had been
wounded in a late affray with one of the Indian
tribes of the interior, were left at La Caroline,
with their late commander, himself disabled at
the time by illness.

Heavy-hearted, Laudonniere saw his comrades
sail away. His fears for the ill-judged expedi-

PEDRO MENENDEZ DE ABILA.

tion were more than realized. A furious storm
soon broke upon the coast : and Ribaut's ships,
driven southward, far beyond the spot where
Menendez was landing his men, were miserably
wrecked on the dangerous shore in the neigh-
borhood of Cape Canaveral.

lutxod.
1565-

Menendez was now free to execute the work
of butchery for which he had come across the At-
lantic. Leaving the bulk of his little army at September
the fort which he had built and named St. Au- ^^•
gustine, he took five hundred picked men and
set out for La Caroline. Within three days the

74 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS : FLORIDA.

introd. French fort was reached.' Surprised in their
1565- slumbers, the sick and wounded, as well as the
September able-bodied, were put to the sword. Only the
women and children were spared. Laudonniere
and a few others fled. Among them was the Hu-
guenot minister Robert. After many hair-
breadth escapes, the fugitives reached the coast,
and were taken on board one of the smaller
ships which Ribaut had left in the river. It was
soon joined by another of these vessels, and the
two, though poorly fitted for the long voyage,
succeeded in making their way across the
ocean.
Eibaut A far more wretched fate was reserved for

STirrsH"

ders. Ribaut and his shipwrecked followers. With
great difficulty, they made their way northward
through forests and swamps almost impassable,
till they came in view of La Caroline, only to
see the Spanish flag flying from its wall. Re-
tracing their steps, they found themselves in the
neighborhood of the Spanish force at fort St.
Aucrustine. Ribaut sent one of his officers to
ask for terms of surrender. Menendez informed
the Frenchman of the slaughter of his compan-
ions at La Caroline. Even such, he coldly as-
sured him, should be the fate of every man
who professed the Protestant religion. Menen-
dez was reminded that his nation was still at
peace with France. " True," he answered,
" but not so in the case of heretics, with whom I

' It was occupied by some two hundred and forty per-
sons— invalid soldiers, artisans, women and little children.
(Delaborde, Coligny, L, 447, note.)

NO TERMS WITH HERETICS. 75

shall ever carry on war in these parts : and I introd.
shall do it with all possible cruelty toward all 1565.
of that sect, wherever I shall find them, whether October,
by sea or by land. Yield yourselves to my
mercy, give up your arms and your colors, and I
will do as God may prompt me."

We shall not reproduce here the sickening
details of the massacre that followed. Ribaut
announced the Spaniard's decision to his little
army, and gave it as his own opinion that there
was no alternative for them but surrender. Two
hundred rejected the proposal, and fled into the
woods. The others — one hundred and fifty in
number — hoping against hope, threw them-
selves upon the compassion of one to whom the Butchery
word had no meaning. The French accounts gj, /ugus
of the affair represent Menendez as resorting to *^^^'
a base subterfuge in order to induce them to
submit without a struggle. In an interview
with Ribaut's messenger, the Spanish comman-
der caused one of his officers to personate him.
The officer made the most solemn promise that
the lives of the French should be spared. How-
ever this may be, all the authorities agree as to
the fact of the surrender, and the wholesale ex-
ecution. Menendez himself announced it to his
government. " I had their hands tied behind
their backs," he wrote to the king, " and them-
selves put to the sword. It appeared to me
that by thus chastising them, God our Lord and
your Majesty were served. Whereby in future
this evil sect will leave us more free to plant the
Gospel in these parts."

76 ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENTS : FLORIDA.

introd. The party of two hundred that had refused to
1565. surrender with the rest, escaped the butchery.
Making their way back to the place of their
shipwreck, near Cape Canaveral, they attempted
to construct a vessel out of the fragments of the
broken ships. Menendez pursued them, but
finding that they were prepared to sell their
lives dear, he entered into negotiations with
them, and engaged to treat them as prisoners of
war. Perhaps satiated for the time with human
blood, he kept the promise, until word came
from the Spanish king, remanding his prisoners
to the galleys.

Thus ends the story of the Huguenot expedi-
tion to Florida — in carnage, and in slavery worse
than death.

Upon the spot where many of his unresisting
victims were ignominiously killed, after the cap-
ture of La Caroline, Menendez placed a tablet
bearing this inscription :

" Hung not as Frenchmen, but as Lutherans."
1567. Two years later, a gallant French officer de-

The crime termined to avenge the slaughter of his country-
avenged. nien. The horrible brutality of the Spaniards
had awakened g-eneral indio^nation in France.
The French court had loudly complained of this
outrage committed upon its subjects in a time
of peace between the two nations. Its remon-
strances, however, made no impression upon
Philip the Second, nor was any redress obtained
for the widows and orphans of the butchered
Huguenots. But Dominique de Gourgues,
though not of the Huguenot faith, could not

DOMINIQUE DE GOURGUES. ']']

rest while the blood of his countrymen cried for introd.

vengeance. Through the sale of his little pat- i^^

rimony, and by the help of his brother, he August

gathered means to purchase and equip three

small vessels. After a perilous voyage, De

Gourgues reached the coast of Florida, enlisted

the friendly Indians of the neighboring region

in his service, and falling upon La Caroline, i568.

took prisoners the Spanish force by whom it

was garrisoned. The greater number of these

he put to the sword. The remainder he hung April 28.

upon the trees from which Menendez had hung

his French captives ; and upon the other side of

the tablet which the Spaniard had placed near

bv, he inscribed these words :

" I do this not as unto Spaniards, nor as unto
seamen, but as unto traitors, robbers, and mur-
derers."

ACADIA

PAKT OF CANADA

SCALE OF MILES,
V 0 40 SO 120

CHAPTER I.

Under the Edict,
acadia and canada.

The Edict of Nantes was signed on the thir- chap. i.
teenth day of April, 1598. Never were the jus- j^g^
tice and expediency of a poHtical measure more April 13.
promptly vindicated by its effects. The publi-
cation of this royal decree was followed by the
speedy return of prosperity to France. In one
day, says Benoist, the disasters of forty years
were repaired. The civil wars had left the
country in a deplorable condition. Everywhere
the traces of the long struggle were to be seen, in
ruined villages and dismantled castles, in farms
laid waste, and cities impoverished. Under the
Edict, which secured to the Protestants of
France the enjoyment of their civil and religious
rights, public confidence soon revived, and trade
and manufactures began to flourish.

For these advantages, the kingdom was large- suiiy's
ly indebted to the statesmanship of the great mansMp.
Sully. It was the good fortune of Henry the
Fourth to have for his trusty counselor a man
of staunch fidelity and of far-sighted wisdom.
Sully was a Protestant, and, unlike his master,
remained faithful to his religious convictions,

8o UNDER THE EDICT : ACADIA.

Chap. I. through all the changes of his times. In admin-
1598. istering the affairs of the country, his principal
concern was for the development of its inter-
nal resources. Bringing a rigid economy into
all the departments of government, he rapidly
reduced the enormous debt which had accumu-
lated during the civil wars ; whilst at the same
time he sought to encourage agriculture as the
most assured means of national enrichment.
Henry Henry shared his minister's views ; but he had
coKSza- other plans also, into which Sully did not enter
*^°°- so cordially. The king favored foreign com-
merce and colonization. It was his ambition to
possess a powerful navy ; to promote adventure
and discovery and trade with distant parts ; and
especially, to carry out the scheme which had
originated with Coligny, his early teacher and
companion in arms, for the establishment of a
French colony in America. The time for this
CTreat undertakino- had come at last ; and it is
to Henry the Fourth that the honor belongs, of
having founded the first agricultural colony in
the New World, and of having founded it upon
principles of religious equality and freedom. •
1504. Already for a hundred years the banks of

Newfoundland had been frequented by French
fishermen. From the harbors of Normandy and
Bretagne, from La Rochelle, and the low sandy
islands along the coast between the Loire and
the Gironde, hardy seamen ventured forth an-
nually across the Atlantic, rivaling the English
and the Spaniards in discovery and commercial
enterprise. Not a few of them were Protest.

REFORMATION IN WESTERN FRANCE. 8 1

ants. Many of the ships that visited the fish- Chap. i.
ing banks, or cruised along the shores of the i^gS.
gulf of St. Lawrence, were owned by Hugue-
not merchants, and manned by Huguenot sail-
ors, whose loud voices were often heard, in port
and at sea, to the indignation of all good Catho-
lics, as they joined lustily in singing Clement
Marot's psalms.

The Reformation early gained a foothold in
the seaboard provinces of western France. It
was about the year 1534, that two of Calvin's
first and most ardent disciples' entered the
province of Saintonge, and began to preach the
new doctrines. Their success was marked, es- spread of
pecially among the humbler classes of the pop- doctrines,
ulation. In a short time, nearly every village
and hamlet had been reached. These mission-
ary labors were aided by recruits from an unex-
pected quarter. A number of monks, in the
central part of France, having heard of Luther,
left their monasteries, and crossed the frontier
into Germany, to hear the great reformer for
themselves. Upon their return to France, they
began to preach boldly against the abuses of
Rome ; but soon, incurring the displeasure of

' Philippe Veron, called " le Ramasseur," and Albert
Babinot, were of the number of those who came under
Calvin's influence during his stay in Poitiers for some
months, before he went to Geneva. — Histoire des Protest-
ants et des eglises reformees du Poitou, par A. Lievre.
Tome I., p. 34. — Histoire des eglises reformees de Pons,
Gemozac et Mortagne, en Saintonge, par A. Crottet. P. 10,
se^. — Bulletin de la Societe de I'histoire du protestantisme
frangais, 316 ann^e (1882) p. 6.

82 UNDER THE EDICT : ACADIA.

Chap. I. the clergy, they were forced to scatter, and hide
1540. themselves in the remoter parts of the king-
dom. Several of these monks came into Sain-
tono-e, and took refuge among the rude fisher-
men and seamen who inhabited the islands of Ole-
ron, Marennes, and Arvert. Here, cautiously at
first, and then more openly, they preached their
Lutheran doctrines, protected by a dignitary of
the Church who was in sympathy with the Ref-
ormation, and finding much acceptance with the
1546. people. The persecution that soon arrested the

August, labors of these zealous men, several of whom
were burned at the stake, did not prevent the
spread of the new faith in Saintonge. By the
middle of the sixteenth century, a large part of
the population of this province, as of the ad-
joining provinces, had embraced the Protestant
religion.

The mass So rapid and so thorough was the change,

'''''^'^" that at the time when the Edict of Nantes was
published, the Roman mass had not been
said openly at La Rochelle for nearly forty
years. In many other Huguenot towns, the pub-
lic exercises of the Roman Catholic worship had
been interrupted almost as long : and in lower
Normandy, and in Henry's native province of
Beam, it had been formally excluded.

Protestant and Catholic alike, the merchants
and seamen of western France were now look-
ino- with keen interest toward America as a field
of commercial adventure. The fisheries and
the fur-trade, pursued hitherto without govern-
ment aid, by companies of merchants and by

THE HUGUENOTS INSECURE. 83

private individuals, had proved exceedingly Chap. i.
lucrative ; and the seaport towns of Norman- 1603.
dy, Bretagne and Aunis vied with one anoth-
er in seeking to obtain the exclusive control
of the profitable traffic. There were reasons,
however, why Protestants especially should wel-
come the plan of colonization in the New
World. They were by no means free from
anxiety as to their condition and prospects in
France. The Edict of Nantes, whilst it recog-
nized and " irrevocably " confirmed their civil
and religious rights, greatly exasperated their
enemies. The clergy, and the more extreme
among the Roman Catholic party, were bitterly Need of a
opposed to its execution. The parliaments long forSe^n.
refused to register the decree, and yielded only
to the express command of the king. Henry
himself was viewed with distrust by his former
fellow-religionists. Whilst protecting them in
the exercise of their religion, he was endeavor-
ing to weaken them as a political party. It was
known that the Jesuits, who had been banished
from the kingdom, were regaining their influence
at court. The day might come, which Coligny
had foreseen, when the Protestants of France
would need a place of refuge from renewed per-
secution, and a country where they and their
children could enjoy freedom of conscience. It
was by considerations like these, that the Prot-
estant subjects of Henry were moved to fall
in heartily with his plans of American coloniza-
tion.

On the eighth of November, 1603, a commis-

84 UNDER THE EDICT : ACADIA.

Chap. I. sion was granted to a Huguenot gentleman of
i6^. Saintonge, Pierre du Gua, sieur de Monts, au-
thorizing him to possess and settle that part of
November North America lying between the fortieth and
®" the forty-sixth degrees of north latitude, and
granting him the monopoly of trade between
Cape Race and the fortieth degree of latitude,
for a period of ten years. The coasts of this
region had been visited and explored by Jacques
1534. Cartier, nearly seventy years before ; and during
the reign of Francis the First an ineffectual at-
tempt had been made to plant a colony on the
bank of the St. Lawrence. Later experiments
had not been more fortunate. One of these ad-
ventures was conducted by a Huguenot officer.
1599. In the year 1599, Pierre Chauvin, seigneur de
Tontuit,' of Honfleur in Normandy, was com-
missioned by Henry IV. to colonize America.
Chauvin was a captain in the royal navy, "very
expert and well versed in matters of navigation,"
says Champlain, " who had served his Majesty in
the late wars, althozigh he was of the Pretended
Reformed religion." "" Several vessels were

' Nouvelles Glanes historiques Normandes, puisees exclu-
sivement dans des documents inedits. Par E. Gosselin,
Greffier-x\rchiviste. Rouen : Imprimerie de H. Boissel,
ruedelaVicomte, 55.— 1873. P. 17. Z?/<; Tontuit. Id., p. 35.

" " Homme tres expert et entendu au faict de la naviga-
tion, qui avoit servi sa Majesty aux guerres pass^es, quoi
qu'il fust de la religion pretendue reformee." " Ce qui fut
a blasmer en cette entreprise, est d' avoir donne une com-
mission a un homme de contraire religion, pour pulluler la
foi c, a. et r., que les heretiques ont tant en horreur, et
abbomination. Voila les defauts que j'avois a dire sur ceste
entreprise." Voyages de Champlain, vol. I., pp. 44, 48.

NEW FRANCE STILL UNOCCUPIED. 85

equipped, and with a force of five hundred men, chap. i.
Chauvin embarked, accompanied by none but i^^^
Calvinistic ministers.' At Tadoussac, on the
northern shore of the St. Lawrence, at the
mouth of its confluent the Saguenay, a trading-
post was established ; and leaving sixteen of his
men to gather furs, the leader returned to
France. The little colony dragged out a miser-
able existence through the winter. Several of
the men died, and the others were barely kept
alive by the compassionate savages, who shared
with them their slender provisions. Chauvin
made another unsuccessful attempt to effect a
settlement in the same place, and was about to 1602.
start upon a third voyage, when he died. In the
following year, the commission which had been
granted him was transferred to a Roman Catho-
lic patentee, Aymar de Chastes, governor of
Dieppe. But before the ships sent out for the
exploration of the country returned, De Chastes
too was dead. Thus in the early days of the
seventeenth century, scarcely a trace remained
of the expeditions of French adventurers to
North America. The whole of the vast region
claimed by France in virtue of the discoveries
of Verrazzano, who as early as the year 1524
had planted her standard upon its soil, was still
waiting to be occupied.

De Montshad accompanied Chauvin, " for his
own pleasure," on his first visit to the St. Law-

' " Tout ira assez bien, horsmis qu'il n' y aura que des
ministres & pasteurs Calvinistes." — Id., p. 45.

86 UNDER THE EDICT : ACADIA.

Chap. I. rence. His impressions of the country watered
1 60^? by that great river — influenced perhaps by the
unfortunate resuh of the expedition — were not
favorable ; and he preferred a more southerly
region, and a milder temperature, for his own
agricultural colony. For this reason he was
attracted to the large peninsula lying south of
the gulf of St. Lawrence, now known as Nova
Scotia. The discoverer Cartier had given a
glowing account of this territory, and had par-
ticularly noticed its climate, resembling that of
Spain, and in singular contrast with the bleak
weather he had encountered on the neiehborine
coast of Newfoundland. This fertile country,
abounding in lakes and rivers and estuaries,' had
La already received the name of La Cadie ; ^ and
the commission given by Henry IV. to his trusty
subject the Sieur de Monts, constituted him its
viceroy.

This commission was a characteristic docu-
ment.3 It began by setting forth the king's
favorite project for the enlargement of his do-
minions. " It has ever been," reads the pream-
ble of the royal grant, " our principal concern
and endeavor, since our accession to this crown,
to maintain and preserve it in its ancient dignity,
greatness and splendor, and to spread and
augment, so far as may be legitimately done, the

About one-fifth of the area of Nova Scotia is occupied
by these waters.

'^ The earliest mention, however, occurs in De Monts'
commission.

' See the Appendix to this volume.

Cadie.

DE MONTS' COMMISSION. 87

bounds and limits thereof." But there was an Chap. i.
object of still higher importance to be sought in 1603.
the present enterprise. The king, " having long
since informed himself of the situation and
condition of the country and territory of Acadia,"
professed to be " moved above all things by a
singular zeal, and by a devout and firm resolu-
tion " which he had taken, " with the help and
assistance of God, who is the author, distributor,
and protector of all kingdoms and states, to seek
the conversion, guidance and instruction of the
races that inhabit that country, from their barbar-
ous and godless condition, without faith or relig-
ion, to Christianity and the belief and profession
of our faith and religion, and to rescue them
from the ignorance and unbelief in which they
now lie." For these purposes, secular as well
as spiritual, Henry appointed the Sieur de
Monts his lieutenant-general, with powers ''to
subject all the peoples of that country and of the
surrounding parts to our authority ; and by all Therights
lawful means to lead them to the knowledge of conscience
God and to the lio-ht of the Christian faith and
reliofion, and to establish them therein." All
other inhabitants were to be maintained and pro-
tected in the exercise and profession of the same
Christian faith and religion, and in peace, repose
and tranquillity.

Thus the foundations of New France were to
be laid in relieious freedom and toleration. Ro-
manist and Calvinist were equally secured in the
enjoyment of the rights of conscience. And the
heathen aborigines were to be taught the truths

88 UNDER THE EDICT : ACADIA.

Chap. I. of that common Christianity which Cathohc and

1603. Protestant ahke professed. If the plan was im-
practicable, it did honor nevertheless to the heart
and mind that prompted and devised the Edict
of Nantes.

De Monts associated with himself the mem-

, bers of a company which had been organized for

one of the previous unsuccessful expeditions ;
adding to their number some of the merchants of
the principal seaports of the kingdom, chiefly of
La Rochelle. He himself was well fitted to be
the leader of such an enterprise. He had fought

Pierre bravely under Henry in the late wars, and the
sieur' king, who trusted him thoroughly, had made him

Monts. o^G of the gentlemen of his bed-chamber, and
some years after appointed him governor of
Pons, in his native province of Saintonge. All
the early writers agree in characterizing him as a
man of the highest integrity, and the purest
patriotism. In courage, energy, perseverance,
in tact and firmness, and in unselfish devotion to
his country's glory, the Protestant founder of
New France was admirably qualified for his mis-
sion. '

With two well-provisioned ships at his com-
mand, De Monts sailed from Havre de Grace

' " Henry IV. avoit une grande confiance [en lui] pour sa
fidelite, commeil a toujours fait paroitre jusques a samort."
— Voyages du Sieur Chaniplain, ou Journal es Decouvertes de
la Nouvelle France. Paris, 1S30. Vol. I., p. 54.

" C'etoit d' ailleurs un fort honnete homme, et qui avoit du
zele pour I'Etat et toute la capacite necessaire pour reussir
dans I'entreprise dont il s'^toit charge." — Histoire de la
Nouvelle France, par le P. de Charlevoix. Vol. I., p. 173.

MINISTER AND PRIEST. 89

early in March, 1604. The band of adventurers Chap. i.
whom he had gathered for his colony, numbered 1604.
about one hundred and twenty persons.' It was March
made up of materials very diverse. Some were '^'
of noble birth, while others were of low condi-
tion. There were Huguenots and Romanists ;
and for the spiritual care of the settlers, and the
proposed conversion of the savages of America,
a Protestant minister and a Roman Catholic
priest went with them.' De Monts' commission
authorized him to impress for his expedition any
" vagabonds, idlers or vagrants," as well as any
criminals condemned to banishment from the
realm, whom he might see fit to employ. A like
permission had been given to preceding adven-
turers, and more than one of them had availed
himself of it.' But it does not appear that the

* The names of a few of these may be gathered from Cham-
plain's account of the expedition. Mention is made of les
Sieurs de Geneston, Sourin, d' Oraille, Chaudore, de Beau-
mont, laMotte Bourioli, Fougeray, la Taille, IMiquelet ; the
surgeons des Champs, of Honfleur, and Bonnerme ; Messire
Aubry, priest, and le Sieur Raleau, secretary of M. de Monts.

* It is charitable to presume that these religious teachers
may have kept the peace during the voyage, at least. The
lively incident related by Champlain {v.J>osfea,Y)Rge 99) did
not occur af sea, as we might infer from the account of it in
" Pioneers of France in the New World," page 223 ; since
it took place in the presence of " the savages," who some-
times sided with the one disputant and sometimes with the
other. Their differences doubtless began in earnest when
they engaged in efforts to convert the Indians, each to his
t)wn religious belief.

' In 1540, Francis I. sent Cartier back to Canada, with or-
ders to take with him fifty persons condemned for crime," hors
d' heresie, et de lese-majeste divine et humaine," for the
settlement of that country. (Nouvelles Glanes historiques

UNDER THE EDICT: ACADIA.

Chap. I
1604.

The
coast of
Acadia

Huguenot leader found it necessary to form his
company out of such materials. There were good
men and true, of his own creed and severe
morality, who could easily be drawn into an
enterprise so hopeful. Among the gentlemen
who accompanied De Monts were two of his for-
mer comrades in the service of Henry of Navarre.
The one was the famous Samuel de Champlain,
like himself a native of Saintonge, and not im-
probably a Protestant by birth,' but who if origi-
nally a Protestant had followed the king's
example in conforming to the Church of Rome.
The other was Jean de Biencourt, baron de
Poutrincourt, the future proprietor of Port Royal.
A short and uneventful voyage brought the
colonists in sight of Acadia. Some time was
exp ore . ^Qj-^g^jj-^-^^^^ jj-^ explorations with a view to the dis-
covery of a suitable place for the settlement. On
one occasion, the explorers met with an adven-
ture, that came near disturbing the harmony of
the expedition. Coasting along the south-eastern
shore of the peninsula, De Monts had passed
Cape Sable, and then steering northward had
entered a bay, to which he gave the name St.

Normandes, par E. Gosselin. P. 4.) The saving clause,
'■'heresy excepted^' illustrates the fatuous policy of France, in
shutting out from her colonies the only class of people dis-
posed to emigrate, and the class affording the best material
for colonization.

' The possibility is suggested by the authors of the
Histoire de la Colonie fran^aise en Canada, in view of the
fact that no record of Champlain's birth and baptism is to
be found in Brouage, his native place ; and in view of his
surname, Samuel, " nom inusite alors chez les Catholiques et
en honneur chez les Protestants." — Vol. I. Note XXI.

AUBRY'S ADVENTURE. 91

Mary, which it retains. Here, pleased with the Chap. i.
appearance of the country, he sent ashore a 1604.
party to make further examination. Among the
men were two, a Protestant, and a young Roman
Cathohc priest, named Aubry, who had often dur-
ing the voyage engaged in hot discussion over
their differing rehgious tenets. Straying from
his companions, Aubry lost his way in the
forest, and when the time came for their return
to the ship, he could not be found. Anxious for
his safety, De Monts caused a search to be
made, not only by his own men, but by the
friendly savages also. Trumpets were sounded,
and cannon were fired, but in vain. At length
all hope of success was abandoned. With
heavy hearts the colonists set sail, and leaving
St. Mary's bay proceeded on their course. But
now their conjectures as to the fate of their
unfortunate comrade took the hue of grave sus-
picion. For it was remembered that Aubry had
last been seen in company with the Protestant
who had so frequently been his antagonist in
sharp debate. Angry words, that might be con-
strued as threats of personal violence, were re-
called by the priest's co-religionists. Finally,
they openly charged the Calvin ist with having
secretly murdered his opponent. His earnest
denials, and the efforts of the prudent com-
mander to allay the rising storm, deterred them
from taking summary vengeance. Great must
have been the relief of all, when after many
days Aubry reappeared. Wandering in the
trackless forest until his- strength and courage

92 UNDER THE EDICT : ACADIA.

Chap. I. failed, he had given up all thought of rescue,
1604. when finding himself on the shore of the great
bay — now known as the Bay of Fundy — he
spied a boat. It belonged to De Monts' ship,
and was lying off the island that still bears the
name of Long Island, where the men were en-
gaged in fishing. Aubry succeeded in attract-
ino- their attention, and was taken on board, a
mere shadow of his former self, having subsisted
for seventeen days upon such edible herbs and
berries as he could find in the wilderness.'
Port Proceeding northward in the Bay of Fundy,

Royal ^ 1 • 1 A

discovered. De Monts came to another mlet. A narrow
channel, between two wooded elevations, admit-
ted the ship to a noble harbor, surrounded by
sheltering hills. To this beautiful basin — now
called Annapolis Harbor — the commander gave
the name of Port Royal ; and here his associate
De Poutrincourt, who was in search of an eligible
spot for a settlement of his own, decided to re-
main and make his home. De Monts approved
the choice, and accompanied the consent with a
grant of the locality to his friend, who promised
at once to brinof over a number of families from
France to occupy and improve it.

The site chosen for the future town of Port
Royal was a point of land jutting out from the
eastern shore, between two rivers that flowed
into the bay. A wooded island, half a league in
circumference, lay directly opposite, in the cen-

' Histoire de la Nouvelle France, par Marc Lescarbot.
A Paris : chez Jean Millot. MDC. XII. P. 453. CEuvres
de Champlain, tome II., p. 16.

ANNAPOLIS HARBOR. 93

ter of the basin. The surrounding forests were chap. i.
broken here and there by broad prairies ; and ^^
along the shore stretched extensive salt marshes,
which at a later day were reclaimed and made
exceedingly productive. The largest ships
could ride in safety within the land-locked har-
bor, which was, however, difficult of access,
owing to the narrowness of the entrance and
the shoals within. The place offered every ad-
vantage for settlement. The fertile soil, the
abundant and excellent timber, the rich fisheries,
the salubrious climate, invited the colonist. In
no other part of Acadia were the winters so
mild.

Accompanied by Champlain, De Monts con- st. Croix
tinued his explorations, passing from headland ^^^ '
to headland along the shores of the great bay,
and finally fixed upon a place for the establish-
ment of his own colony. It was a small island
off the coast, at the mouth of the St. Croix
river, on the opposite side of the Bay of Fundy.
The site was singularly unsuitable. The island,
not more than ten acres in extent, was without
water, and ill-supplied with wood. The bitter
experiences of a winter passed upon this rocky
islet convinced the French of their mistake, and
after examining other places along the coast,
De Monts resolved to remove his colony to Port
Royal, and unite his forces with the settlement
which De Poutrincourt had commenced there.
Sickness had thinned the numbers of the little
company during their stay at St. Croix : of
seventy-nine settlers, only forty survived. They

94 UNDER THE EDICT : ACADIA.

Chap. I. were joined in the summer of 1606' by Marc
1606. Lescarbot, a Protestant lawyer and man of
letters, who has left us a lively account of the
infant colony in his History of New France.
He found it without a religious teacher. The
priest and the minister whom De Monts brought
over with him, both died during the sickness
that prevailed on the island of St. Croix. Les-
carbot tells us that he did his best to supply the
vacancy. " Being requested," he says, " by the
Sieur de Poutrincourt,' our chief, to give some
portion of my time to the Christian instruction
Lay of our little community, in order that we might
preaching ^^^ jj^^ ij|,g ^-^^ beasts, and that we might afford
Port the savages an example of our way of living, I
did so every Sunday, and also upon some extra-
ordinary occasions, nearly all the time we were
there. And it happened well that without antici-
pating this, I had brought with me my Bible and
a few books ; for else the duty would have wearied
me greatly, and I might have been compelled to
decline it. As it was, the labor was not with-
out fruit ; for several persons have testified to
me that they had never heard so much said and
well said concerning God, having been pre-

' Le Samedi veille de Pentecoste trezieme de May [1606]
nous levames les ancres & fimes voiles en pleine mer tant
que peu a peu nous perdimes de veue les grosses tours & la
ville de la Rochelle puis les isles de Rez & d'Oleron, disans
Adieu a la France. — Lescarbot, Histoire de la Nouvelle
France, pp. 523, 524.

^ This nobleman, if nominally a Roman Catholic, appears
to have been in full sympathy with his Huguenot associates,
De Monts and Lescarbot. His hatred of the Jesuits was
undisguised.

A MISSIONARY EXPEDITION. 95

viously unacquainted with the principles of the chap. i.
Christian doctrine." "A condition," adds the 1606.
Calvinist, " in which the mass of Christendom
is living." '

Great hopes were cherished among the Prot-
estants of France for the success of this colony
as a missionary expedition. The conversion of
the heathen natives was indeed one of the chief
of its avowed ends. At La Rochelle, where
Lescarbot took ship for New France, he found
the Huguenots praying for this object daily in Converts
their public assemblies. He intimates that a christian-
number of the savages were brought under * ^'
religious instruction during the time of his stay
in America, and professed their readiness to be
baptized." The Jesuit historians throw discredit

' Meme je ne seray point honteux de dire qu' ayant este
prie par le Sieur de Poutrincourt no're chef de doner quel-
ques heures de mon Industrie h. enseigner Chretiennement
notre petit peuple, pour ne vivre en betes, & pour donner
exemple a notre fa^on de vivre aux Sauvages, je I'ai fait
en la necessite, & en etat requis, par chacun Dimanche, &
quelque fois extraordinairement, presque tout le temps que
nous y avons ete. Et bien me vint que j'avoy porte ma
Bible & quelque livres, sans y penser : Car autrement une
telle Charge m'eut fort fatigue & eust et^ cause que ie m'en
serois excuse. Or cela ne fut point sans fruit, plusieurs
m'ayant rendu temoignage que jamais ils n* avoient tant oui
parler de Dieu en bonne part, & ne sachant auparavant
aucun principe en ce qui est de la doctrine Chretienne." —
Histoire de la Nouvelle France, par Marc Lescarbot. Livre
iv., chap. V.

'' " Le principal but de sa [de Poutrincourt] transmigra-
tion, qui estoit de procurer le salut de ces pauvres peuples
sauvages et barbares. Lors que nous y estions nous leurs
avions quelquefois donne en I'ame de bonnes impressions
de la connoisance de Dieu, comme se pent voir par le dis-

96 UNDER THE EDICT : ACADIA.

Chap. I. Upon these early efforts to Christianize the
1604. Indians ; and in fact they represent that the
Huguenot De Monts was required, by the terms
of his commission, as viceroy of Acadia, to
propagate the Roman Cathohc faith among
them. This statement, for which the authority
of Champlain himself is given, has hitherto
passed unquestioned. But we have already
seen that De Monts' commission contained no
such stipulation. It differed in this respect very
significantly from the commissions that had
been given to previous applicants. The patent
granted by Francis I. to Jacques Cartier speaks
of " the augmentation of our Mother Holy

cours de notre voyage, & en mon Adieu a la Nouvelle
France."— Lescarbot, Histoire dela Nouvelle France, p. 636.

Adieu done ie te dis, ile de beaute pleine,
Et vous oiseaux aussi des eaux et des forets,
Qui serez les temoins de mes tristes regrets.
Car c'est a grand regret, et ie ne le puis taire,
Que ie quitte celieu, quoy qu' assez solitaire.
Car c'est a grand regret qu' ores ici ie voy
Ebranle le sujet d'y enter notre Foy,
Et du grand Dieu le nom cach6 sous le silence,
Qui a ce peiiple avoit louche la conscience.

******

Temoins soient de ceci les propos veritables
Que Poutrincourt tenoit avec ces miserables
Quand il leur enseignoit notre Religion,
Et souvent leur montroit I'ardente affection
Qu'il avoit de les voir dedans la bergerie
Que Christ a rachete par le pris de sa vie.

Eux d' autre part emeus clairement temoignoient
Et de bouche & de coeur le desir qu'ilz avoient
D'estre plus amplement instruits en la doctrine
En laquelle il convient qu' un fidele chemine.

— Lescarbot, Adieu ^ la Nouvelle France,

THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AND RELIGION. 97

Church CathoHc " (de notre mere Sainte Eglise chap. i.
CathoHque). Henry IV. himself, in his com- 1604.
mission to the Marquis de la Roche, a Roman
Catholic nobleman, mentions the "aggrandize-
ment of the Catholic faith " (la foy Catholique) as
the aim in view. But the patent issued to the
Huguenot De Monts was conceived in mpre
general terms. It required that the heathen
be converted " to Christianity," " to the knowl-
edge of God, and to the light of the Christian
faith and religion."' However this language
might be understood by the zealots of Rome, it
was not likely that Protestants would construe
it as denoting the doctrines of the Papal system
exclusively, nor indeed that the king, who, if
not still a Protestant at heart, was far from
being regardless of the rights of his Reformed
subjects, could have so designed it. This sig
niflcant omission, indeed, did not escape the
notice of De Monts' enemies at the time.

Objections were raised to the expedition Objections
on the score of the religious belief of its De Monts'
leader. The Parliament of Rouen refused to ^°bS!^"
register his commission, and sent one of its
members to remonstrate with the king against
the appointment of a heretic to be his lieutenant
in Acadia. But before the envoy could reach
Paris, a letter came from Henry, setting forth in
very peremptory terms the royal pleasure.
"We have been advised," said the king, "of the

* The correctness of Lescarbot's version of the patent
granted to De Monts is attested by a contemporaneous
translation, for which see the Appendix.

98 UNDER THE EDICT : ACADIA.

Chap. I. opposition that has been made to the execution

1604. of the powers we have given to the Sieur de

Montsfor the peopHngand occupying of Acadia

and other adjacent countries ; and we have

learned that you take chief exception to the

pretended reformed rehgion, of which the said

Sieur de Monts makes profession

Wherefore that you may be certified of our

will and purpose, we let you know that we have

given command that some ecclesiastics of good

life, doctrine, and edification shall proceed to

the said countries with the said Sieur de Monts,

to counteract [prevenir] whatever of a contrary

profession might be there sown and introduced.' "

Notwithstanding this assurance, the Parlia-

guarantee ment of Rouen still hesitated to confirm the

heresy! commission. Manifestly, it was thought that

no sufficient guarantee had been given for the

' " Nos amez et feaulx, nous avons este adverty des oppo-
sitions formees k I'execution du pouvoir que nous avons
donne au Sieur de Monts pour le peuplement et I'habitation
de la terre de I'Acadye et autres terres et provinces circon-
voisines, selon qu'elles sont prescrites par ledit pouvoir et
sceu que vous vous arretez principalement sur la religion
pretendue reformee, dont ledict Sieur de Montz faict pro-
fession comme aussy sur 1' interdiction que vous avons
faicte a nos courts du Parlement de ce faict, des circon-
stances et dependances et autres actions qui se pourroient
mouvoir pour raison des ordonnances que nous avons faictes
pour ce subject, ou, ce que Ton pretend de prejudice et
interets en la liberie du commerce. Sur quoi afin que vous
soyez assurez de notre vouloir et intention, nous vous dirons
que nous avons donne ordre que quelques gens d'Eglise de
bonne vie, doctrine et edification se transportent es dits
pays et provinces avec le diet sieur de Montz pour prevenir
ce que Ton pourroit y semer et introduire de contraire pro-
fession."

— Gosselin. (Nouvelles Glanes historiques normandes.)

RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES. 99

spread of the true faith and the repression of chap. i.
heresy in New France. But the king deigned 1604.
no further explanation ; and all discussion of the
subject was speedily cut off by a royal behest,
which admitted of no further delay.

Champlain represents the heathen as greatly
scandalized by the differences between the
Catholics and the Protestants, which they wit-
nessed from time to time. " One thing must be
remarked," he observes, " to the disadvantage of
this enterprise, namely, that two conflicting re-
ligions never produce any great results for the
glory of God in the conversion of the unbelievers.
1 have seen the minister and our curd fighting
with their fists, while discussing their religious
differences. I do not know which one of the two
may have been the braver, and may have dealt
the better blow; but I do know that the minister
used sometimes to complain to the Sieur De
Monts that he had been beaten. Thus it was
that they determined their points of controversy.
I leave it to you to say whether this was a pleas-
ant sight. The savages sided sometimes with
the one party and sometimes with the other ; and
the French, mingling in the discussion according
to their differing beliefs, vilified both religions,
though the Sieur De Monts did his best to restore
peace among them."

Port Royal was beginning to wear the aspect
of a thrifty and prosperous settlement, when in
the summer of the year 1607, tidings arrived
from France that the privileges of trade granted
to De Monts under his commission from the king

lOO UNDER THE EDICT: ACADIA.

Chap. I. were withdrawn. The merchants of St. Malo, in
1607. Bretagne, had long been foremost in the traffic
pursued along the American coast. Great was
their indignation when they learned that a rival
company had obtained exclusive rights, shutting
them out from the fisheries and the fur-trade
which they prized so much. No efforts were
spared to break down the odious monopoly ; and
at length these efforts succeeded. De Monts
was compelled to renounce his cherished plan. A
good beginning had been made by the little band
Privileges o^ colonists. Their cultivated lands gave promise
°\S^^ of rich harvests. They had erected a small pali-
drawE. saded fort, a mill, store-houses and dwellings, and
had undertaken the manufacture of tar. They
had established friendly relations with the natives,
and had met with some success in the effort to
convert them to Christianity. But the experiment
of colonization was costly, and, without the
revenue to be derived from the monopoly granted
them, could not be carried on. Port Royal was
abandoned, at least for the present. The title to
the lands upon which the settlement had been
effected was still held, however, by De Monts'
associate, De Poutrincourt, and two years later
he returned and took possession of his grant, a
confirmation of which he obtained from the king.
Meanwhile, baffled in the attempt to colonize
Acadia, De Monts did not immediately renounce
the scheme of a French settlement in the New
World. Though he had lost his exclusive
privileges of trade, the Huguenot leader still
held his commission from Henry the Fourth, giv-

PORT ROYAL ABANDONED. lOI

ing him vice-regal powers over the whole vast Chap. i.
territory, which included not only the peninsula 1608.
since known as Nova Scotia, but also Canada,
and a great part of the continent to which it
belongs. He was resolved to attempt a settle-
ment in the interior ; and in order to secure the
means of accomplishing this purpose, he again
petitioned the king, and obtained a renewal of
the monopoly of trade with America, at first for
a single year. Again he associated with himself
the daring and enthusiastic Champlain. Two
ships were equipped for the expedition ; the
one, to carry on the traffic in peltries from which
the needed revenue for the enterprise was to be
derived ; the other, under the command of Cham-
plain, to discover and to occupy a suitable site
for the proposed colony.

It was in the summer of the year 1608 that settlement
Champlain, acting under the authority of De Quebec.
Monts, landed on the bank of the St. Lawrence,
upon the spot which was to be the site of the city
of Quebec. The superb position must have im-
pressed the great explorer, and perhaps, like
Frontenac, at a later day, he too saw here " the
future capital of a great empire." '

For many years, however, the place was
scarcely more than a trading-post. Little in-
ducement was held out to settlers, and few
came over with any design to remain and culti-
vate the soil. The attractions of commerce were
stronger than those of colonization. De Monts'

' Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV. by Fran-
cis Parkman, p. 15.

I02 UNDER THE EDICT: ACADIA.

Chap. I. company, holding nominally the exclusive right
1608. to trade with the New World, had been consider-
ably enlarged. The sagacious and large-hearted
Huguenot, more Intent upon the success of his
colony than upon his own personal Interests,
drew the rival houses of St. Malo into Its service
by admitting them as partners of the monopoly
which they had endeavored to break down.
But the company's ships were not alone in carry-
ing on the traffic. Many merchants of Rochelle
and other ports were actively engaged In it ; and
many a free-trader, besides, setting at defiance
the restrictions placed upon commerce, sought
the shores of New France, drove his own bargain
with the savages, and sailed back to the French

Religious coast with rich cargoes of peltry.
unresSt- ^^ Y^^' there was no Interference with re-
^^' llglous liberty. Protestants and Romanists
shared alike in the toils and the profits of trade,
and often discussed the differences of their
belief with a freedom that ran Into license. Re-
lloflous contentions were indeed amon^ the chief
troubles experienced by Champlain In the gov-
ernment of the colony, to which he had now
been appointed. A few Franciscan friars were
brought over In 161 5, to undertake the spiritual
care of the French, and the conversion of the
Indians. But the Calvinist traders and sailors
were proof against the persuasions of the zeal-
ous missionaries ; and as yet, no harsher means
than persuasion could be employed to subdue
their heresy. On many of the company's ves-
sels, as on most of the ships engaged In inde-

DE MONTS' COMMISSION SURRENDERED. 103

pendent trade, the crews were assembled daily Chap.!,
for prayers, after the manner of Geneva; and 1610.
even good Catholics, it was complained, were
required by the Huguenot captains to join in the
psalmody which formed so important a part of
the Protestant worship,

But the Huguenots of France had now lost
their royal protector. Henry the Fourth fell May
under the assassin's knife ; and soon after, the
honest and patriotic De Monts, relinquishing at
length his cherished plan, surrendered the com-
mission he still held as viceroy of New France.
It was manifest that the infant colony needed a
more powerful friend ; and the Prince of Conde,
a former chief of the Huguenot party, and still
its recognized champion, was induced to lend his
name to the enterprise. This headship, how-
ever, was only titular. The actual possessors of
New France were no friends to Protestantism
or to religious freedom. By a singular fatality,
the proprietary rights which De Monts had
parted with, were now, to all intents and pur-
poses, lodged in the hands of the Jesuits. The
ostensible purchaser was a woman. Antoinette
de Pons, marquise de Guercheville, a lady of
honor to the queen, was an intense devotee of
the Church of Rome, and an enthusiastic ad- The
mirer of the so-called Society of Jesus. The missions,
missions which that Society had been carrying
on with wonderful energy for more than half a
century in Asia and in South America, awakened
her warmest interest. Plans for a similar work
were now entertained with reference to the

I04 UNDER THE EDICT: ACADIA.

Chap. I. northern continent of the New World ; and
i6ii. Madame de Guercheville readily gave her in-
fluence and her wealth for the furtherance of
the scheme. Seeking out the Huguenot pat-
entee of Acadia and Canada, she made him a
tempting offer for the transfer of his rights in
New France. She found De Montsin his native
town of Pons, to the government of which he
had lately been appointed. The moment was
The favorable to the success of the lady's plan. De
^cSd! ^lonts stood in pressing need of money for the
defense of his town. Pons was one of the
strong places secured to the Protestants by the
Edict of Nantes, and great pains had been
taken since the close of the civil war to repair
its walls and fortifications. But Pons was
poorly garrisoned ; and its citizens, sharing in
the uneasiness that pervaded the Reformed
body ever since the tragic death of Henry the
Fourth, were anxiously devising ways and means
to augment the military force in command.' The
barorain was made. The grarrison of the little
1621. town — destined to be dismantled in a few years
by the troops of Louis the Thirteenth — was
strengthened ; and the title to the proprietor-
ship of half a continent passed from the hands
of a Huguenot into those of a subservient tool
of the Jesuits.

Acadia was the field chosen for the beginning
of the missions of Rome in New France. On

' Histoire des eglises reformees de Pons, Gemozac et
Mortagne, en Saintonge. Par A. Crottet. Bordeaux, 1841.
Pp. 101-107.

THE JESUITS IN ACADIA. 105

the twenty-sixth of January, 161 1, a second ex- chap. i.
pedition set forth from the French coast for the 161 1.
harbor of Port Royal. But this time, no Hugue- January,
not minister accompanied the colonists. Two ^^"
Jesuit priests, the van-guard of the spiritual
army of occupation that was to follow, were
the chief passengers on board the well-
freighted ship. They had been preceded,
at Port Royal, by a small band of immigrants,
under De Poutrincourt, who came in the spring
of the year 16 10 to resume possession of the
place originally granted to him b}^ De Monts.
But the ill-success that attended the former set-
tlement was awaiting the new enterprise. Bitter
dissensions broke out among the colonists, which
the presence of the Jesuit fathers did not contrib-
ute to allay. In 161 3, another vessel came over,
richly provisioned, and bearing a reenforcement
of missionaries, to plant a second station on the
American shore. A beginning was made, on
the island of Mount Desert, off the coast of
Maine. Both settlements, however, were speedi- Mount
ly destroyed by an English freebooter. Cruis-
ing in these waters at the time of the arrival of
the second colony from France, Samuel Argall,
afterwards deputy-governor of Virginia, landed
upon the island of Mount Desert, made prison-
ers of the French, took possession of their ves-
sel, and then — guided, it has been said, by one of
the Jesuit fathers, out of malice against the pro-
prietor of Port Royal — proceeded to the older
settlement of De Poutrincourt, and laid the
place in ashes.

I06 UNDER THE EDICT : CANADA.

Chap. I. Acadia was now lost to the Jesuits ; and some
1613- time must yet elapse before they could obtain
1621 possession of Canada. The commercial interests
of France were still controlled largely, as they
continued to be for many years, by Huguenot
merchants ; and in order to the prosecution
of the important trade with the New World, the
capital and enterprise of the great companies of
La Rochelle, Rouen and Dieppe were indispen-
sably needed. Hence, though the Prince of
Conde was succeeded as viceroy of New France
by the Duke of Montmorency, an open enemy of
the Huguenots, no attempt was made as yet to
exclude them from the colonies.

In 1 62 1, the duke, dissatisfied with the man-
The agement of the trade with Canada, conferred
Montoor-^ the monopoly of that trade upon a body of mer-
^^^^' chants to be known as the Compagnie Montmor-
ency. At the head of this company was Guill-
aume de Caen, sieur de la Mothe, a Huguenot
of Dieppe.' De Caen was at once an enter-
prising merchant and an experienced navigator.
Bred to the sea, he had already made many a
trip, under his father's direction, to the banks of
Newfoundland. His able administration soon
raised the new company to a height of prosperity
such as none of its predecessors had reached.
Royal favors were showered upon it. Privilege
after privilege was granted, in utter disregard
of the rights previously conferred upon the
older associations. A fleet was created for its

* Son of Guillaume de Caen and Marie Langlois his wife,
(Gosselin: Nouvelles Glanes Historiques Normandes.)

GUILLAUME DE CAEN. 107

service, with De Caen as its admiral, under the chap. i.
title of General of the Fleet of New France. 1^21.
Secure of government patronage, the company
spent vast sums in building ships and store-
houses, and in 1627 boasted of an annual rev-
enue of one hundred thousand francs.

Among the conditions upon which the com-
pany held its monopoly, was that of transport-
ing to Canada and there maintaining six friars of
the order of St. Francis, for the religious instruc-
tion of the colonists and the natives. De Caen
was faithful to this engagement, but he claimed
for himself and for his fellow-religionists all the
liberty which the Edict of Nantes secured to
them, of conducting worship according to the
Reformed rite. No great objection seems to
have been made to this, until, five years later,
three Jesuit fathers came to reenforce the band
of Franciscans. De Caen and his fellow-traders
gave them but a cold reception. True to their The
character, the new comers lost no time in stirring enter
up strife with the hated heretics. Complaints ^*°^**'
were made to the viceroy that the Huguenot
sailors at Quebec were regularly assembled by
order of De Caen, for prayer, and the singing of
psalms. It was represented that even Roman-
ists in the company's employ, were forced to be
present at these services. The most objection-
able part of this heretical worship, was the sing-
ing. The followers of Loyola especially de-
tested it. Their own rule exempted them from
the chants and other choral services observed
by religious orders in the Roman Catholic

1626.

lo8 UNDER THE EDICT: CANADA.

Chap. I. Church. "They do not sing," said the enemies
1626 ^^ ^^^ Jesuits ; " birds of prey never do." ' The
governor of Quebec was instructed to forbid
these disorderly practices. No pubHc saying of
prayers or singing of psahns was to be tolerated
on the river St. Lawrence. But the company's
men, and especially the crews of their vessels,
refused to comply with these orders, and threat-
ened mutiny. " At last," says Champlain, " it
was agreed that they might meet to pray, but
should not sing psalms. A bad bargain, yet it
was the best we could do."

But the time was now drawing near, when the
powerful Society of Jesus could carry its plans in-
to effect, and Canada, closed against heresy,
could be held as an exclusive field of missions
Coinpany f^j- ^j^^ Church of Rome. Another change in the
New vice-recrency of New France took place ; and

France. o ^ 1 '

Montmorency was succeeded by his nephew, the
young Duke de Ventadour. At once, the new
viceroy, who was a devoted friend of the Jesuits,
sent over five members of the order. A few
months later, the monopoly of trade was with-
drawn from the Huguenot De Caen, and a com-
pany was formed, to be known as the Company
of New France. At the head of this organization,
upon which exclusive commercial and proprietary
rights were conferred, was Cardinal Richelieu, the
energetic and sagacious minister of Louis the
Thirteenth. In return for the extraordinary
privileges and powers granted to it, the com-

' Miscellanies, by William R. Williams. The Jesuits as a
Missionary Order. New York: 1850. P. 175.

HUGUENOT SETTLERS EXCLUDED. 109

pany bound itself to transport emigrants to the chap. i.
New World, to give them lands, and to main- 1627.
tain them for three years after their arrival. But
every emigrant must profess the Roman Catholic
faith. From this vast region — the whole conti-
nent of North America, as claimed by France
— heresy was to be rigidly and forever excluded.

To the statesman and to the Jesuit alike, this
exclusion appeared a master-stroke of policy.
Richelieu, who had but lately taken his place in
the royal council, was already maturing his plans
for the depression of the Huguenot power in
France. At this moment he was engaged in re-
ducing La Rochelle, the political center of that
power, with whose fall, a few months later, the
hopes of the party were to be extinguished. The
time had not yet come for a legalized and sys-
tematic persecution of the adherents of the Re-
formed faith. But meanwhile it was the object
of the government to weaken and humiliate them.
To throw open the colonies to the Calvinists,
with their superior thrift and enterprise, would
be to offer them enlarged opportunities of en-
richment and advancement. On the other hand,
their exclusion would increase the odium which
it was for the interest of the kinof to connect
with the Huguenot name.

The Jesuits, equally anxious to extirpate ^Jf^t^^^
heresy at home, and to shut it out from their Jesuits.
mission fields abroad, hailed this measure as a
signal triumph. By a curious coincidence, their
recall to power had followed closely upon the
grant made to De Monts for the settlement of

no UNDER THE EDICT: CANADA.

Chap. I. New France. They had viewed with an evil eye
1627. the broad provisions of that grant, which con-
tained no discrimination in favor of the Roman
Cathohc religion, but admitted Huguenots to the
privileges of trade and the ownership of land, upon
the same footing with the sons of the true Church.
The Jesuit historian Sagard deplores the spirit
of toleration and indifference that was exhibited
Toleration by the first settlers under De Monts' charter, and
ep ore . ^.^i^^^g ^j^ incident that illustrates at once their
rough pleasantry, and their freedom from relig-
ious animosity. " It happened in the course of
those beginnings of the French in Acadia' that a
priest and a minister died about the same time.
The sailors who buried them laid them both in
one grave, to see if they who could not agree
whilst alive would dwell together in peace when
dead. In short," he adds, "everything was
made a matter of jest. The undevout Catholics
readily accommodated themselves to the humor
of the Huguenots ; and these malicious heretics
kept on, unrestrained, in their loose way of liv-
ing.

A better feeling had sprung up in France
between the adherents of the two religions, at
the close of the civil wars. The Edict of Nantes
imposed some restraint upon the virulence of the
Roman clergy ; and the banishment of the
Jesuits had already removed for the time the
most zealous agents of religious agitation. An

' " En ces commencemens que les Francois furent vers
I'Acadie."

' Sagard, Histoire du Canada, I., p. 26.

NO COMPROMISE WITH HERESY. Ill

old writer, depicting the state of things then chap, i.
prevalent, tells us that at Caen, in Normandy, 1627.
" Catholic and Huguenot lived side by side in
a perfect understanding. They ate together,
drank together, played together, enjoyed each
other's society, and parted company without the
slightest offense, the one to go to mass, the other
to attend preaching." ' The return of the fathers
from their temporary exile broke up these amica-
ble relations. Though in Caen, as in many other
places, a strong opposition was made by Catholics
and Protestants alike, to their admission, yet no
sooner had this opposition been overcome, than
the presence of the order was felt in sowing dis-
cord and fomenting strife. The reign of good
feeling was at an end. Awaiting the time when
severer means could be used to crush out heresy
in the land, the Jesuits employed themselves in
rousing the popular mind to suspicion, envy, and
bitter resentment. Frequent infractions of the
Edict of Nantes occurred. The government it-
self, whilst professing to maintain the Edict,
winked at many violations of its provisions.

In the meantime, no compromise with heresy
must be suffered, in that vast territory which .the
Jesuits now controlled in the New World.
Canada was to be the patrimony of the Church
of Rome. Its savage population must be won
to the true faith, through the labors of an army
of devoted missionaries, trained in the school of

' Essai sur I'histoire de 1' Eglise rdform^e de Caen, par
Sophronyme Beaujour. Caen ; 1877. P* 208.

112 UNDER THE EDICT: CANADA.

Chap. I. lornatlus Loyola. And the comino- o-enerations
1627. of its colonists must be shielded from the malign
influences that had been at work in France,
ever since the days of Calvin.

At the last moment, however, the prize

England seemed about to elude the hands that were
lists, stretched out to grasp it. Heretic England en-
tered the lists for the acquisition of Canada.
While Richelieu was organizing the Company
of New France, a project was entertained at the
British court, having in view the conquest of the
French possessions in the western hemisphere.
England still claimed the North American con-
September tinent by right of discovery : and in 1621, James
the First, acting upon this assumption, made
over to one of his subjects, a Scottish gentle-
man. Sir William Alexander — afterward Earl of
Stirling — the whole territory east of the St. Croix
river, and south of the St. Lawrence. The grant
included all Acadia ; and the peninsula, with the
lands conveyed on the main — now forming the
province of New Brunswick — was to be known
as Nova Scotia. For several years, however,
little was done, either by the king or by the
nobleman, to make good these pretensions to a
region already held, and held with a clearer title
certainly, by the French. France and England
were at peace ; and the question of proprietor-
ship in a distant wilderness was not important
enough to provoke a conflict. But in 1627 a
sudden war — soon to terminate — broke out.
Charles the First, declaring himself the protec-
tor of the persecuted Protestants of France, sent

EXPEDITION TO CONQUER NEW FRANCE. 1 13

a fleet under the command of his favorite the Chap. i.
Duke of Buckingham, for the rehef of La 1627.
Rochelle, then blockaded by the troops of Louis
XIII. The ill-contrived and ill-conducted expe-
dition ended ignominiously. Buckingham was
no match for Richelieu. The starving inhabi-
tants of La Rochelle saw a second and a third
fleet approach their city only to sail away after a
few feeble demonstrations ; and on the twenty-
eighth day of October, 1628, La Rochelle
was taken.

Better success attended another enterprise of Huguenots
the English in the course of the same brief war. JpSitJo^n.
The patentee of Nova Scotia, Sir William
Alexander, saw the opportunity to obtain pos-
session of his grant ; and under his auspices, a
squadron was fitted out for the conquest of New
France. It was easy to find good material for
the expedition. England was now the refuge of
many brave Huguenot seamen and soldiers, well
qualified, and more than ready for such an adven-
ture.

Amone the refugees were three brothers, David,
Louis, and Thomas Kirk, natives of Dieppe in
Normandy. To David, as admiral, the com-
mand of the expedition was given, his brothers
serving under him. The sailino- master was one
Jacques Michel, a " furious Calvinist," who had
been in the employ of Guillaume de Caen, and
was forward in promoting the present enterprise.
Many other Huguenots joined it, all eager for
the conquest of New France. Acadia fell an
easy prey to the invaders. After taking pos-

114 UNDER THE EDICT: CANADA.

Chap. I. session of Port Royal, and capturing a French
1628. fleet on its way to Canada with supplies for
Champlain's colony, Kirk returned to England
with flying colors, and the next year sailed for
the St. Lawrence. Anchoring with the body of
his fleet at the port of Tadoussac, the commander
sent his brother Louis up the river, with three
ships, for the capture of Quebec. The little fort,
held by a mere handful of soldiers under Cham-
plain, and utterly without provisions, was In no
condition to withstand an assault. On the twen-
Quebec. tieth day of July, 1629, Quebec surrendered.
^ ^°" The Huguenot ofiicer in command of the Engrlish
force took possession of the place ; and the
Jesuit fathers, who had lately come to occupy the
mission field which they hoped to secure against
the intrusion of heresy, found themselves prison-
ers in the hands of the very men against whom
they purposed to close Canada forever.

The war, however, was already over, and peace
had been siofned between France and England
three months before the capture of Quebec.
Canada must revert to its original proprietors;
and after three years of negotiations, during
which Louis Kirk remained In command, the
English yielded Quebec to the French. The
Huguenot governor won the respect and confi-
dence of the Inhabitants by his lenient course,
and his courteous manners. He was, according
to Champlain, a thorough Frenchman, though the
son of a Scotchman who had married In Dieppe ;
and he did all in his power to induce the French
families, whose company he preferred to that of

CANADA REVERTS TO FRANCE. 1 15

the English, to remain in Quebec. He permitted chap.i.
the Jesuit fathers to say mass, and entertained igjg.
them at his table, to the great displeasure of his
sailing master Captain Michel, who couldscarcely
restrain himself from coming to blows with the
members of the hated fraternity. The death of
this stubborn heretic, which occurred a few days
later, was regarded as a judgment, in view of his
violent abuse of "the good fathers ;" and dying
in his pretended religion, I do not doubt, says
Champlain, that his soul is now in hell.'

Singularly enough, the agent whom France
now appointed to receive back her American
province, was likewise a Huguenot. This agent
was Emery de Caen, the son^ of Guillaume, sieur
de la Mothe. Emery had been associated with
his father in the company holding the monopoly
of the Canadian fur-trade ; and to indemnify him
for the losses he had sustained in the late war,
he was permitted to enjoy the benefits of that
monopoly during a single year. At the expira-
tion of this term, the Company of New France
entered upon the full possession of its rights.

It was on the twenty-third day of May, 1633,
that Champlain, again appointed governor, took

* Voyage de Champlain, II., p. 313. " Deux ou trois jours
apres ledit Jacques Michel estant saisi d'un grand assoupisse-
ment fut 35 heures sans parler, au bout duquel temps il
mourut rendant 1' ame, laquelle si on peut juger par les
oeuvres et actions qu'il a faites, et qu'il fit le jour auparavant;
et mourant en sa religion pretendue, je ne doute point
qu'elle ne soit aux enfers."

' The First English Conquest of Canada, with some
account of the Earliest Settlements in Nova Scotia and New-
foundland. By Henry Kirk, M.A. London, 187 1. P. 69.

Ii6 UNDER THE EDICT: CANADA.

Chap. I. from the hands of the Protestant De Caen, the
1633. keys of the fort of Quebec. Two Jesuit mission-
May aries, who had come over with De Caen, were
^^" already in possession of their convent, built
shortly before the capture of the place by Kirk.
From this time forth, Canada was formally
closed to the Protestant colonist. The heretic
trader continued to be tolerated, but he was
jealously watched, and restricted in his inter-
course with the inhabitants. The privilege of a
permanent residence was granted to none but to
Frenchmen professing the Roman Catholic faith.
The In this prohibition, religious intolerance pro-

doom nounced the doom of the French colonial system

pronounc- . r 1 x t

ed. in America. The exclusion of the Huguenots
from New France, was one of the most stupen-
dous blunders that history records. The re-
pressive policy pursued by the French govern-
ment for the next fifty years, culminating in the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, tended more
and more to awaken and to strengthen among
the Protestants a disposition to emigrate to
foreign lands. Industrious and thrifty, and
anxious at any sacrifice to enjoy the liberty of
conscience denied them at home, they would
have rejoiced to build up a French state in the
New World. No other desirable class of the
population of France was inclined for emigra-
tion. It was with great difficulty that from
time to time the feeble colony could be re-
cruited, at vast expense, and with inferior
material. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of
expatriated Huguenots carried into the Protest-

THE LOSS TO CANADA. 1 17

ant countries of Northern Europe, and into the chap, i,
British colonies of America, the capital, the in- 1633.
dustrial skill, the intelligence, the moral worth,
that might have enriched the French posses-
sions, and secured to the Gallic race a vast do-
main upon the North American continent'
There is reason to believe that in spite of

' The enlightened author of the Histoire du Canada depuis
sa Decouverte jusqii a nos Jours, has fully recognized the
greatness of this mistake. " Le dix-septieme siecle fut pour
la France I'epoque la plus favorable pour coloniser, a cause
des luttes religieuses du royaume, et du sort des vaincus,
assez triste pour leur faire desirer d' abandonner une patrie
qui ne leur presentait plus que I'image d' une persecution
finissant souvent par 1' echafaud ou le bUcher. Si Louis
XIIL et son successeur eussent ouvert 1' Amerique a cette
nombreuse classe d'hommes, le Nouveau Monde compterait
aujourd'hui un empire de plus, un empire fran^ais ! . . . .
Richelieu fit done une grande faute, lorsqu'il consentit a ce
que les protestans fussent exclus de la Nouvelle-France ;
s' il fallait expulser une des deux religions, il aurait mieux
vallu, dans 1' interet de la colonic, faire tomber cette exclu-
sion sur les catholiques qui emigraient peu ; il portait un
coup fatal au Canada en en fermant 1' entree aux Huguenots
d' une maniere formelle par 1' acte d' etablissement de la

compagnie des cent associes Le systeme colonial

franfais eut eu un resultat bien different, si on etjt leve les
entraves qu' on mettait pour eloigner ces sectaires du pays,

et si on leur en edt laisse les portes ouvertes Et

pourtant c' etait dans le temps meme que les Huguenots
sollicitaient comme une faveur la permission d' aller s' etab-
lir dans le Nouveau-Monde, ou ils promettaient de vivre en
paix a r ombre du drapeau de leur patrie, qu'ilsnepouvaient
cesser d' aimer ; c'etait dans le temps, dis-je, qu' on leur
refusait une priere dont la realisation e1lt sauve le
Canada, et assure pour toujours ce beau pays a la France.
Mais Colbert avait perdu son influence a la cour, et etait
mourant. Tant que ce grand homme avait ete au timon des
affaires, il avait protege les calvinistes qui ne troublaient
plus la France, mais 1' enrichissaient." — Histoire du Canada
depuis sa Decouverte jusqu' a nos Jours. Par F. X.
Garneau. Quebec : 1845. Tome I., pp. 155, 156, 157, 493.

Il8 UNDER THE EDICT: CANADA.

Chap. I. prohibitory laws and ecclesiastical vigilance,
1633. Huguenot settlers succeeded from time to time
in establishing themselves in Canada. We may
infer as much from the boasted success of the
Jesuits in their efforts to convert heretics whose
presence in the colony was detected.' Sixteen

' Tanguay, Dictionnaire Genealogique des Families Cana-
diennes, depuis la fondation de la colonic jusqu' a nos
jours, mentions the following instances of abjuration prior to
the year 1700 :

David Beaubattu, baptized 1668, son of Jean Beaubattu
and Marie Champagne, of Lairac, [Layrac,] near Agen,
[Lot-et-Garonne]. Soldier in the company of M. de Muy.
Abjured Calvinism, Jan. 6, 1686, at Pointe-aux-Trembles,
Quebec.

Franpois Bibaud, baptized 1642, son of Francois Bibaud,
of La Rochelle, [a Protestant : comp. La France Protest-
ante, s. V.,] was living in Quebec in 167 1.

Charles- Gabriel Chalifour, born in 1636 in La Rochelle,
after spending some years in New England, went to
Montreal, where he abjured Calvinism and was baptized
Dec. 26, 1699.

Pierre Champout, son of Andre Champout and Marie
Lavau, of St. Germain d' Hemet, in Perigord, diocese of
Perigueux, abjured August 16, 1672, at Three Rivers.

Matthieu Doucet, miller, baptized in 1637, came from
France in 1656. Made abjuration of heresy. Was buried
March 25, 1657, at Three Rivers.

Daniel Fore, son of Isaac Fore and Anne Tibault, of St.
Jean d' Angely, diocese of La Rochelle. Soldier, called
Laprairie. Made abjuration in April, 1685.

Francois Frete, called Lamothe, baptized in 1668, of La-
motte St. Eloi, diocese of Poitiers, abjured Calvinism, June
29, 1699, in Montreal.

Isaac Le Comte, tailor, of Linctot, [Lintot,] diocese of
Rouen ; a Calvinist converted in Canada ; buried March 9,
1635, at Three Rivers.

Daniel Pepie, called La Fleur, soldier in the company of
M. Cahouac ; son of Jacques Pepie and Isabelle Fore, of
the diocese of Xaintes. Abjured Calvinism, March 4, 1685,
in Montreal.

Jacques Poissant, called Laselline, soldier in the company

PROTESTANTS DETECTED IN THE COLONY. 1 19

were discovered in a regiment of regular troops chap. i.
sent over by the government in 1665 ; and the 1665.
royal intendant hastened to inform the king of
their speedy conversion. About the same time,
a number of the proscribed religionists were
found among a body of emigrants who landed at
Quebec. We read in the Jesuit " Relations " an
edifying account of the miraculous change ef-
fected in one of these men, through the pious
ingenuity of a hospital nun. " I cannot," writes
Le Mercier to the Reverend Father Bordier,
" omit the mention of a very wonderful act of
grace, performed upon another heretic, one of
the most stubborn of those whom we have seen stubborn
here. He was entreated repeatedly, and with all
possible urgency, in order that his heart might
be touched, and that he might be made to see
his wretched condition, but always in vain. And
not only was he unwilling to listen to the holy
and charitable solicitations that were addressed
to him, thrusting them from him with indigna-
tion, but he even bound himself with fresh prot-
estations to die sooner than to abandon the
religion to which all his relatives were attached.
Nevertheless, having fallen very grievously ill,
he was carried, like others, to the hospital ; and
there the good nuns, who are not less zealous for
the salvation of the souls of their patients, than
anxious for the hea,lth of their bodies, did every-
thing in their power to win him over. One of

of M. De Noyan, son of Jacques Poissant and Isabelle
Magos, of Bourg-Marennes, diocese of Xaintes. Made ab-
juration in April, 1685, at Pointe-aux-Trembles, Montreal.

i665.

1 20 UNDER THE EDICT: CANADA.

Chap. I. them, who had frequently had occasion to prove
the virtue of the relics of the deceased Father de
Brebeuf, (who was burned some years ago very
cruelly by the Iroquois in the country of the
Hurons, while engaged in the endeavor to con-
vert that barbarous people), bethought herself
of mino-line — unknown to this man — a small
quantity of these relics, reduced to powder, in a
^""rJiics!^ potion which she was about to administer to
him. Wonderful to relate, this man became a
lamb ; he asked that he might receive instruc-
tion. He admitted into his heart the impres-
sions of our Faith ; he publicly abjured heresy,
and that with such fervor as even to astonish
himself. And to crown the mercies of God be-
stowed upon him, he received health for the
body as well as for the soul." '

' Relation de ce qui s'est passe en la Nouvelle France es
annees 1664 & 1665 ; envoyee au R. P. Provincial de la
Province de France. A Paris, chez Sebastien Cramoisy,
M. DC. LXXVI. Avec Privilege du Roy. Chapitre dernier.
Pp. 124, 126. Au Rd. Pere Jacques Bordier. Dated a
Kebec le 3, Novembre 1665.

" Je ne puis pas aussi omettre un coup de la grace, bien
merveilleux, en la personne d' un autre Heretique, des plus
opinionastres que nous ayons veus ici. On le sollicita a
plusieurs reprises & avec toutes les instances possibles, pour
lui toucher le coeur, & pour lui faire voir son mal-heureux
estat : mais toujours en vain. Et non seulement il ne
vouloit pas escouter les saintes & charitables instances qu'on
luy faisoit, les rebutant avec indignation mais mesnie il
s'engageoit par de nouvelles protestations, a mourir plutost,
que de quitter la Religion, dans laquelle estoient tous ses
parens. Cepandant estant tonibe tres-grievement malade,
& ayant este porte a 1' Hospital comme les autres, ces
bonnes Religieuses, qui n'ont pas nioins de zele pour le
salut de I'ame de leurs malades, que d' affection pour la
sante de leurs corps, faisoient de leur coste tout leur possi-

RELATIONS WITH LA ROCHELLE. 121

The commercial relations of the colony with Chap. i.
La Rochelle increased the difficulty of exclud- 1664.
ing heresy from Canada. That ancient strong-
hold of the French Protestants had lost its
military consequence : but it retained its mari-
time importance, and the chief part of its wealth
and trade were still in the hands of Husruenot
capitalists. Quebec depended upon them for
its principal importations : and the yearly visits of
the merchants concerned in the fur-trade must
needs be endured. They were, however, for-
bidden to exercise their religion while in the
colony ; and their stay was strictly limited. Merchants
Emigrants from La Rochelle were looked upon
with special distrust. For a time they were
admitted : but in 1664, the imperious bishop
Laval, of Quebec, declared that he wanted no
more colonists from that hot-bed of heresy.'

Scarcely less obnoxious to the clergy than the
Protestant settler was the agent or factor repre-
sentinof in Canada some Huouenot firm in

bles pour le gagner. Une d' entre-elles ayant souvent ex-
perimente la vertu des Reliques de feu Pere de Brebeuf,
brule autrefois tres-cruellement par les Iroquois, dans le
pais des Hurons, lors qu'il travailloit a la conversion de ces
Barbares, s' advisa de mesler a son insceu, un peu de ces
Reliques pulverisees dans un breuvage qu' elle luy fit pren-
dre. Chose admirable ! cet homme devint un agneau, il
demande a se faire instruire et il rcfoit dans son esprit et
dans son coeur, les impressions de nostre Foy & fait pub-
liquement abjuration de 1' heresie, avec tant de ferveur, que
luy-mesme en est estonne : & pour comble des graces de
Dieu sur luy, il regoit la sante du corps, avec celle de
r ame."

* The Old Regime in Canada. By Francis Parkman.
P. 216.

122 UNDER THE EDICT: CANADA.

Chap. I. France. The bishop of Quebec complains in
1670. 1670 that these persons are still permitted to
come into the province, though the evil effects
of their presence have long been felt and made
known to the government. These effects may
be seen both as it regards religion and as it re-
gards the state. On the side of religion it
must be observed that these commercial agents
use many enticing words, that they lend books,
and sometimes hold meetings among them-
selves ; and, moreover, to the bishop's knowl-
edge, there are people who speak honorably of
these men, and cannot be persuaded that they
are in error. Nor is the matter less import-
ant as viewed on the side of the state. For
every one knows that the Protestants are in
Dangerous general not so strongly attached to his Majesty
ofBostoif ^^ ^^^^ Catholics. Quebec is not very far from Bos-
ton and from other English towns. To multiply
Protestants in Canada would contribute at some
future day to revolutions. Those who are here
already have not appeared to take any very
special interest in the success of his Majesty's
arms. On the contrary, they have been seen
spreading with some eagerness the intelligence
of every slight mischance that has occurred. A
sufficient remedy would be applied to this abuse
if French merchants were forbidden to send
over Protestant clerks.'

* " L'Eveque de Quebec represente que les commercants de
France envoyent des commis Protestans, que depuis long-
tems le clerge en a fait connoitre les inconveniens et par rap-
port a la religion et par rapport a I'Etat. A I'egard de la

DESERTERS TO NEW YORK. 1 23

The fact that the persecuted Huguenots of Chap. i.
France were taking refuge, in large numbers, in 1675-
the neighboring EngHsh colonies, greatly dis- ^^^^
turbed the Canadian government and clergy
during the last quarter of the seventeenth cen-
tury. Naturally enough, it was apprehended
that in the event of an invasion of the province,
on the part of New York and New England,
these " renegades," as they were opprobriously
styled, would be among the foremost assailants
of the power that had oppressed them in the
old world. Occasionally, the refugees in those
colonies were joined by some Protestant com-
patriot from ]\Iontreal or Quebec. Strict laws
were passed for the punishment of any Cana-
dians who might attempt to leave the country
for the purpose of removing to Orange or
Manatte — as Albany and New York were still

religion, I'Eveque de Quebec assure qu'ils tiennent plusieurs
discours seduisans, qu'ils pretent des livres et que quelque-
fois meme ils se sont assembles entr'eux ; qu'enfin il a
connoissance que plusieurs personnes en parlent honorable-
ment, et ne peuvent se persuader qu'ils soient dans I'erreur.
En examinant la chose du coste de I'etat, il paroit qu'elle
n'est pas moins importante. Tout le nionde s^ait que les
protestans en general ne sont pas si attaches a sa Majeste
que les Catholiques. Quebec n'est pas bien loin de Boston
et autres villes Anglois : multiplier les Protestans dans
Canada, ce seroit donner occasion pour la suite a des revo-
lutions. Ceux qui y sont n'ont pas paru prendre une part
particuliereau succes des armes de Sa Majeste : on les avus
repandre avec un certain empressement tous les petits con-
tretems arrives. Une defense aux commer9ans Francois
d'envoyer des commis Protestans sufifiroit pour remedier a
Tabus." — Memoirede I'Eveque de Quebec sur les Protestans,
1670. Massachusetts Archives : French Collections, vol.
II., p. 233.

soldiers

in
Canada.

124 UNDER THE EDICT: CANADA.

Chapel, called by the French. But in spite of royal
1683. edicts, and military surveillance, whole families
sometimes succeeded in escaping to the En-
glish. The governor of Canada wrote home in
1683 : " There are at present over sixty of
those miserable French deserters at Orange,
Manatte, and other Dutch places under English
command." ' Some years later, an agent of
Massachusetts, who had been sent to Quebec
for the purpose of effecting an exchange of
prisoners with the Canadian government, found
Protestant there " several French Protestant officers and
soldiers," who had " a great desire for Protest-
ant liberty," and "to be under the English pro-
tection." These men were only deterred from
escaping to New York as "being the most nigh,
and the way they are best acquainted with
thither," by the fear of " the Maquas' cruelty,
who have already murdered several in making
their escape." '

Masters of the arts of intrigue, the Jesuits of

' Documents relative to the Colonial History of the
State of New York. Vol. IX., p. 203.

* The Information of Mathew Carey received from sever-
all ffrench Protestants ofificers and soldiers at Quebeck, Oct.
28, 1695. — Massachusetts Archives, A. 38. This informa-
tion was communicated by Lieutenant-governor Stoughton,
Nov. 25, 1695, to Governor Fletcher of New York. — English
Manuscripts in the Office of the Secretary of State, Albany,
N. Y., vol. XL., pp. 100, loi. Governor Fletcher, in
acknowledging the communication, Dec. 3, 1695, writes,
" It is the first time I heard tliere is any ffrench Protestants
in Canada." — Mass. Archives, II., 409. In the margin of
Carey's letter occurs the name, probably that of one of the
ofificers referred to, " Monsr. Delarogtterie Cap. of a Marine
detachmt." (Nicolas Lecompte de la Ragotterie, capi-

FALSE BRETHREN. 1 25

Canada had their agents among the Huguenot chap. i.
refugees in the English colonies ; and one of 1676-
these, it would seem, was Jean Baptiste de ^^g^
Poitiers, sieur Du Buisson, a prominent French
resident of Harlem, New York, between the
years 1676 and 1681. The accurate historian of
Harlem mentions him as "evidently a person of
character, and of standing and influence among
the refugees," taking much interest in their
affairs and rendering them many friendly serv-
ices.' It is to be feared that the Sieur Du The
Buisson was a Canadian spy of the most accom- ^^^
plished type." Lord Bellomont had him in Buisson.
mind, perhaps, when he reported to the British
Board of Trade in 1698: "Some French that
passed for Protestants in this province during
the war, have since been discovered to be
Papists ; and one would suspect their business
was to give intelligence to Canada."

Meanwhile the zeal of the Canadian clergy
for the exclusion and suppression of heresy had

taine, etait a Quebec en 1695. — Tanguay, Diet. gen. des
fam. Canadiennes, p. 362.)

' Harlem (city of New York) : its Origin and Early Annals.
By James Riker. P. 416.

* Jean Baptiste du Poitiers, sieur du Buisson, was the
son of Pierre du Poitiers and Helene de Belleau, of St.
Martin d'Annecour, diocese of Amiens. In 1700 he made
declaration, at the Seminary of St. Sulpice, that he had
caused several of his children to be baptized in certain
heretical countries near Menade [New York] by priests who
were then in flight because of persecution. Meanwhile he
was passing for a Protestant. It appears from the above
declaration that he resided at various times in Flushing, on
Staten Island, in Hotbridge [?], three leagues from Menade,
and in Esopus, where his youngest child was baptized

126 UNDER THE EDICT: CANADA.

Chap. I. been stimulated by the Revocation of the Edict
1686. of Nantes. A letter of Louis XIV. to Governor
de Denonville, in the spring following that event,
informed him of the brilliant success of the meas-
ure, and expressed his Majesty's persuasion that
the example of his subjects of the Pretended Re-
formed Religion in France, all of whom had now
abjured their heresy, would determine those
heretics who might still remain in Canada to do
likewise. If, however, there should be found
among them any stubborn persons unwilling to
be instructed, the governor was authorized to
Echoes quarter his troops in their houses, or to imprison
Revoca- them ; being careful to accompany this rigorous
tion. treatment with the necessary provisions for their
instruction, and to concert with the bishop for
this purpose. '

{ondoye) by a Protestant minister. — Tanguay, Diet, g^neal.
des fam. Canadiennes, s. v. — In 1693 he was sponsor at the
baptism of two children of Pierre Montras, who had re-
nounced the Roman Catholic faith. Riker, p. 416. Sus-
picions were entertained during his stay in Albany, in 1689,
that Du Buisson was maintaining " a secret correspondence
with the French" in Canada. — Riker, 416. These sus-
picions must have been allayed, since he remained several
years longer in the province. But in the light of the facts
given above, they seem to have been well founded.

' Memoire du Roy a M. de Denonville, Versailles, le 31
May, 1686. * * * Quoyque Sa Majeste soit persuadee
qu'il est a present inform^ de I'heureux succes que son zele
pour la conversion de ses sujets de la R. P. R. a eu, elle est
bien ayse de luy faire s^avoir qu'ayant re9u des advis de
toutes les provinces de son Royaume dans les moisd'aoust et
de Septembre dernier du Grand nombre de conversions
qui s'y faisoient des villes toutes entieres dont presque tous
les marchands faisoient profession de la d. Religion I'ayant
abjur^e ; cela obligea Sa Majeste a faire publier un edit au

BERNON IN CANADA. 127

No occasion was found to use the severities chap. i.
thus permitted. The governor speedily wrote 1686.
to his royal master, assuring him that there was
not a heretic in Canada.'

One of the effects of the Revocation, was the
exclusion of the Huguenot merchants w^ho had
so long been tolerated in the province for the
sake of its commercial interests. Henceforth the
Protestant trader could remain in Quebec only
upon condition of a change of religion. The
principal French merchant in Canada at this
time was one Bernon, who had done great service
to the colony. " It is a pity," wrote Denonville,
" that he cannot be converted. As he is a Hugue-
not, the bishop wants me to order him home this
autumn, which I have done, though he carries on
a large business, and a great deal of money
remains dice to him here.'' ^

mois d' Octobre dernier pour revoquer celuy de Nantes.
Depuis ce terns, Dieu benissant les pieux desseins de Sa
Majeste, tous ses sujets qui restoient encore dans I'heresie
en ont fait abjuration de sort que Sa Majeste a a present la
satisfaction non seulement de ne voir plus aucun exercise de
cette Religion dans ses etats, mais meme de voir tous ses
sujets faire profession de la religion Catholique. Elle est
persuadee que cet exemple determinera les heretiques qui
peuvent estre en Canada a faire la meme chose, etelleespere
que le dit Sr. de Denonville y travaillera avec succes ; cepen-
dant si dans ce nombre il s'en rencontrait quelques uns
d'opiniatres que refusassent de s'instruire, il peut se servir
des soldats pour mettre garnison chez eux, ou les faire met-
tre en prison, en joignant a cette rigeur le soin necessaire
pour les instruire, en quoy il doit agir de concert avec
I'Evesque. — Massachusetts Archives, French Collections, vol.
III., 183.

' Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State
of New York. Vol. IX., Page 312.

' The Old Regime in Canada. By Francis Parkman. Pp.

128 UNDER THE EDICT: ACADIA.

Chap. I. Forbidden to land on the shores of the St.

1603- Lawrence, the Huguenot could not so well be

shut out from the waters of that grreat Bay of
1713. , _ ^ •'

Fundy which had first been visited by the
Protestant, De Monts. For while Canada re-
mained during a century and a half, almost un-
interruptedly, in the possession of France and of
the Jesuits, Acadia, more accessible to commerce,
and more exposed to the fortunes of war, was
Changing passing from hand to hand between rival claim-
owners, ants, French and English. Five times within
the century that followed Poutrincourt's second
settlement at Port Royal, the peninsula was
seized by the English ; ' each time to be ceded

291, 292. — This was probably Gabriel Bernon, of La Rochelle,
who afterwards settled in Boston. His brother Samuel,
a zealous Romanist, as we shall see in another chapter,
continued to be engaged in trade with Canada, and is
spoken of by La Hontan, (Nouveaux Voyages, p. 66), as
the merchant who carried on the most extensive business
there. (Le Sieur Samuel Bernon de la Rochelle est celui
qui fait le plus grand commerce de ce pais-la.) Gabriel's
accounts, drawn up in 1686, before his flight from France,
mention a sum due to him " en Canada ; " and after his
coming to Boston he maintained relations with several
prominent French officials in that country.

' Acadia was feebly held by the French after the destruc-
tion of Port Royal by Argall in 1613, and that place was re-
built, and was occupied until the year 1627, when Sir David
Kirk took possession of it. By the treaty of St. Germain-en-
Laye, March 29, 1632, Acadia was ceded back to France.
In 1654, Port Royal was seized by a British fleet. Negoti-
ations for the restoration of the province to France were
opened the next year, but it was not until the year 1667 that
England, by the treaty of Breda, surrendered her acquisi-
tion. In 1690 an expedition from New England under Sir
William Phips captured Port Royal. The French recovered
it in the course of the same year. Another New England
force, under General Nicholson, conquered Acadia in 17 10 ;

DEALINGS WITH THE PURITAN. 129

back after a few years' occupation to its original chap. i.
proprietors; until in 1713 by the treaty of 1603-
Utrecht, "all Nova Scotia or Acadia" was
finally secured to the crown of England.

Under such conditions, heresy could not be
excluded from the country, even during those
periods when it formed a part of the terri-
tory of New France, The strict surveillance
maintained at Quebec over the traders from La
Rochelle and Dieppe, was out of the question at
Port Royal and La Heve. Maine and Massachu-
setts were near neisfhbors to Acadia. A brisk
run of twenty-four hours before the wind brought
the Acadian coaster to Casco Bay or to Boston.'
And with the free intercourse which neither
civil nor ecclesiastical police could prevent,
kindly feelings were engendered, and social re-
lations were constituted. Even the Church of
Rome relaxed its severe features, and moderated
its harsh tone, under the softening influences of
these associations. Far removed from the scrut-
iny of the bishop of Quebec, and the espionage
of the Jesuits, the parish priest of Acadia tolera-
ted the presence of the Huguenot settler, and
sometimes condescended to eneaofe in trade
for himself, with the Puritans of New England.

For several years after the destruction of
Port Royal by Captain Argall, in 161 3, Acadia
attracted little attention. The claim which

and three years later, by the treaty of Utrecht, April 11,
1 7 13, the province was finally secured to Great Britain.

' The distance from Annapolis to Boston is two hundred
and fifty miles.

ISO UNDER THE EDICT: ACADIA.

Chap. I, had been violently asserted for England in that
16^14, piratical act, was not pressed. The French con-
tinued in possession of Port Royal, and kept
up their fisheries and their trade in peltries.
Poutrincourt remained in the province, consort-
ing with the friendly Indians, and awaiting more
favorable times for his unfortunate colony.
About this time, it is related, a French Protest-
ant, engaged in a fishing expedition in these
waters, was driven by stress of weather into
Massachusetts Bay, and was cast ashore. He
found the coast inhabited by numerous tribes of
savages, who received him kindly, and among
whom he lived for two years. Pitying the
dense ignorance of these heathen, whom he
took to be worshipers of the devil, the zealous
Huguenot used his utmost efforts to persuade
them to embrace Christianity, but all to no pur-
pose. At length, discouraged, the missionary
turned prophet, and warned his hearers that for
1617- their obduracy God would destroy them. Not
1620. long after, they were visited by an epidemic
that continued for three years, and swept away
almost the entire Indian population for sixty
miles along the coast.' This was the "wonder-

' Narrative concerning the settlement of New England,
1630. Papers in the State Paper Department of the British
Public Record Office. Vol. V. 77. (Calendar of State
Papers. Colonial, 1574-1660. P. in).

"About 16 yeares past an other ffrench man being nere
the Massachusetts upon a ffishing voyage, and to discover
the Bey, was cast away, one old man escaped to shoare,
whom the Indians pserved alive, and after a yeare or 2, he
having obteyned some knowledge in their languadge pceiv-
ing how they worshipped the Devill, he used all the meanes

EMIGRATION FROM LA ROCHELLE. 131

ful plague," of which the Pilgrim Fathers of Chap. i.
New England heard, upon their arrival a few 1633-
years later at Plymouth, and which they de- 16- 1
voutly regarded as a providential preparation
"to make room for the settlement of the En-
glish." '

The feeble remnant of Poutrincourt's party
that continued in Acadia, was reenforced, in the
year 1633, by forty families brought over from
France. These families settled at La Heve,
on the coast, and engaged in fishery and in the
cultivation of the soil. The greater number of
them removed, after a few years, to Port Royal,
where they were joined, in 1638, by twenty
families more. Still another body of settlers,
consisting of some sixty individuals, came over
in the year 1671. All these colonists were from
La Rochelle and its vicinity.^ And inasmuch

he could to pswade them from this horrible Idolotrye, to
the wop : [worship] of the trew God, whereupon the Saga-
more called all his people to him, to know if they would
follow the advise and councell of this good old man, but
all answeared with one consent that thei would not change
their God, and mocked and laughed at the ffrenchman and
his God, then said he I feare that God in his anger will de-
stroy you, then said the Sagamore yor God hath not thus
manie people neither is he able to destroy us, whereupon
the ffrenchman said that he did verily feare his God would
destroy them and plant a better people in the land, but they
contynewed still mocking him and his God until the plague
cam wh was the yeare following, & continewed for 3 yeares
until yt God swept almost all the people out of that country,
for about 60 miles togeather upon the sea coast."

* Palfrey, History of New England, vol. I., p. 177, note.

^ The History of Acadia, from its first Discovery to its
Surrender to England by the Treaty of Paris. By James
Hannay. St John, N. B., 1879, pp. 128, 141, 282, 290, 291.

132 UNDER THE EDICT: ACADIA.

Chap. I. as the population of Aunis, and the adjoining
1633- provinces, was at that time largely Protestant,
1671. and the Protestants of France were emphatically
the emigrating class, it is likely that many, if
not most of the emigrants, previous to the Rev-
ocation, may have been of the same faith with
De Monts, the founder of the colony. This
would seem the more probable, in view of the
fact that a considerable proportion of the names
of Acadian families, believed to have come over
at this period, are names of Protestant families
of Aunis, Saintonge, and Poitou.'

There was one of these Acadian families,
about whose Protestant antecedents there can be
no question, and which was destined to take a
prominent part in the history of the colony. Its
founder was Claude de St. Etienne, sieur de la
Tour. He is said to have been allied to the
noble house of Bouillon.^ About the year 1609
he came, a widower, with his son Charles, then a
boy of fourteen, to Port Royal, for purposes of
trade, having lost the greater part of his estates
in the civil wars. When that settlement was
broken up, in 161 3, La Tour removed to the

Such as Alain, Barillot, Beaumont, Blanchard, Bobin,
Bobinot, Boisseau, Briand, Cadet, Chauvet, Clemenceau,
Commeau, Cormie, D'Amboise, D'Amours, Duguast, Gou-
jon, Gourdeau, Landry, La Tour, Lourion, La Pariere,
Morin, Petiteau, Petitpas, Robichon, Robin, Roy, Sibilleau.
(Lievre, Histoire des Protestants du Poitou, passim. La
France Protestante, passim. Crottet, Histoire des Eglises
reforinees de Pons, Gemozac et Mortagne, en Saintonge,
passim. Archives Nationales, Tt. Compare Hannay, His-
tory of Acadia, pp. 284-290. — Mass. Archives, II., p. 540.

^ Hannay, History of Acadia, p. 114.

CHARLES DE LA TOUR. 1 33

coast of Maine, and built a fort and trading chap. i.
house at the mouth of the Penobscot river, 1609-
which was claimed by the French as within the ^^^
limits of Acadia. Here he continued for a
number of years, until finally dispossessed by
the English of Plymouth.

Meanwhile, Charles de la Tour, now a bold
and active youth, had formed a close friendship
with young Biencourt, the son of Poutrincourt,
the proprietor of Port Royal. Biencourt had
remained in Acadia after the destruction of the
settlement, at first seeking a home among the
Indians, and then engaging, with a few com-
panions, in the attempt to rebuild the trading
post whose beginnings had been so unfortunate.
The two friends, nearly of the same age, became
inseparable; and when in the year 1623, Bien-
court died, he appointed Charles his successor in
the government of the colony, bequeathing to
him all his rights in Port Royal.

From this time forth. La Tour led a life of
extraordinary vicissitude, in the course of which
he displayed immense energy, and a singular
ability to win the confidence and secure the co-
operation of his associates. Having fortified
himself in a stronghold which he built among
the rocks near Cape Sable, and gained the
friendship of the neighboring savages, he as-
pired to something more than the position of a
petty chieftain ; and in 1627 he petitioned Louis
XHL to be placed in command of the province
of Acadia. The elder La Tour undertook the
voyage to France, for the purpose of presenting

30.

134 UNDER THE EDICT: ACADIA.

Chap. I. his son's request and of urging his suit. The
1&27- mission proved successful, and Claude was on
16,0 ^^is way back to Acadia, when he was taken
prisoner by an English man-of-war, and carried
to London. Through the influence of some of
the Protestant refugees, however, he was soon
released. His rank as a Huguenot nobleman
brought him into notice at the court of Charles
I., who showed him marked favor. He married
one of the maids of honor of Queen Henrietta
Maria : and in 1630 he returned to Acadia a
baronet, with a grant of a large tract of land
April from Sir William Alexander, the patentee of
Nova Scotia, who was now about to renew the
attempt to effect a settlement in that country.
Equal honors and benefits were to be conferred
upon Charles, if like his father he would
own alleoriance to the crown of Encrland. But
this he utterly refused to do. Arriving with
two armed vessels at Cape Sable, Claude de la
Tour visited his son, and urged him to surrender
his fort, promising him that he should continue
to hold it under the English government, and
setting forth all the advantages that would ac-
crue to him by this exchange of masters. Young
La Tour replied, professing his gratitude to the
king of England for the favor he was disposed
to show him, but declarino- that he could not
betray the trust committed to him by his royal
master the king of France. In this determina-
tion he remained firm, in spite of the remon-
strances and the threats of his father, who at
length, in his desperation, undertook, with the aid

INFLEXIBLE LOYALTY. 135

of the soldiers and armed seamen at his com- chap. i.
mand, to seize the fort by assault. Charles met j^^
force with force, and succeeded in repelling his
assailants, who retired after a fierce struggle, in
which a number of the English were killed and
wounded. Compelled to renounce his plans for
his son's advantage as well as for his own, La
Tour withdrew in deep mortification to Port
Royal, where a colony of Scotch families had
been planted some time before under Sir
William Alexander's patent. The next year,
however, his son induced him to come and take
up his abode near the fort, where a comfortable
house was provided for him.' Soon after, by the
treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, Acadia was ceded
back to France, and Charles de la Tour was per-
mitted to hold the office of lieutenant-general, February
to which, in recognition of his loyalty and cour- ^g^^
age, Louis XIII. had appointed him. A few
years later he received a grant of a large tract January
of country on the river St. John, and he removed i635.
thither, establishing himself in a fort at the en-
trance of the harbor.

La Tour did not find it easy to retain the post
that he had coveted, and that he deserved by his
fidelity. A rival soon appeared, and an impla-
cable enemy, in the person of Charles de Menou
d'Aulnay, better known by his title as Sieur de
Charnise. Charnise had acquired possession of
a part of Acadia, including the lands around Port

' Description Geograpbiqiie et Historiqne des Costes
de I'Amerique Septentrionale. Par M. Denys. Paris :
MDCLXXIl. Pp. 68-71.

chieftains.

136 UNDER THE EDICT : ACADIA.

Chap. I. Royal. He held a commission similar to that

1636- of La Tour, as lieutenant-general for the king.

jg Both were largely engaged in the fur-trade and
in the fisheries of the province. Their interests
conflicted at every point : and Charnise, a man
of unscrupulous ambition and unyielding pur-
pose, bent all his energies to the work of sup-
planting and ruining his opponent. For the
next fifteen years the struggle was maintained,
Charnise persistently seeking by intrigue at the
court of France to procure the displacement and
arrest of his rival, and to obtain the means for
enforcing the orders issued to that effect ; and

Rival La Tour appealing at one time to his co-religion-
ists in La Rochelle, and at another time to his
Q-Qod neighbors in New Eno^land, for assistance
in defending his rights.

Charles de la Tour had married, about the
year 1625, a lady of his own Huguenot faith.
Nothing is known of her origin ; but it would
seem probable that she may have belonged to
some Protestant family transplanted at an early
day from La Rochelle or its vicinity to Acadia.
Madame de la Tour was a woman of heroic
character. Sharing her husband's privations
and perils, she was often his most trusty agent
as well as his wisest counselor. At a time
when he was in great straits, she crossed the
ocean to La Rochelle, hoping to obtain for him
the assistance of his Huguenot friends. Char-
nise was then in France, and hearing of her
arrival, procured an order for her arrest, but
she succeeded in making her escape to England.

MADAME DE LA TOUR. 137

There she freighted a ship with provisions and chap. i.
munitions of war for her husband's relief, and 1643-
set out for Acadia, narrowly escaping capture ^^
by one of Charnise's vessels on the homeward
voyage. At another time, Madame de la Tour
was left in charge of the fort at the mouth of-^
the river St. John, during her husband's absence,
when his enemy's ship entered the harbor, and
summoned the feeble garrison to surrender. The
heroic woman inspired the few soldiers at her dis-
posal with her own dauntless courage. For answer
to the summons, the guns of the fort opened
an effective fire upon the besiegers. Twenty
were killed and thirteen wounded, and the ship
itself was so shattered that it was with difficulty
withdrawn to a place of shelter. Two months April

. 13

later, however, Charnise renewed the attack.
This time the approach was made on the side of
the land. La Tour had not yet returned, and
again his brave wife assumed the command.
For three days the assailants were kept at bay.
The fourth day was Easter Sunday, and while
the garrison were at prayers, the besiegers,
through the treachery of a sentinel, were ad-
mitted within the palisades. They were scaling
the walls of the fort, when Madame de la Tour,
apprised of the assault, rushed forth at the
head of the little band of defenders, who suc-
ceeded in driving back the enemy with great
loss. Charnise now offered terms of capitula-
tion. But no sooner did he obtain possession
of the fort, than he sentenced the whole garri-
son to be hanofed. Madame de la Tour was

tS^ UNDER THE EDICT: ACADIA.

Chap. I. compelled to witness the execution of her brave
1645. soldiers, with a rope around her own neck. The
barbarous Charnise spared her life, but she did
not long survive the indignity and the humilia-
tion thus endured. Within three weeks from
the time of the capture, this noble woman
was laid to rest on the bank of the St. John
river.' Her memory has long been held dear in
the land of her adoption ; and the story of her
courage and her constancy certainly deserves to
have a place in the record of Huguenot endu-
rance and achievement.^

The death of his devoted wife, and the loss
of his fort and his lands on the St. John, were
strokes of misfortune under which even so strong
a nature as that of Charles de la Tour could
with difficulty bear up. His rival, Charnise,
was now triumphant, and for the next five years
the dispossessed seignctir of Acadia was a wan-
derer in Massachusetts, Newfoundland and
1650. Canada. But in the height of his ambitious
career, Charnise suddenly died ; and the indom-
itable La Tour, hastening to Paris, obtained

' Description Geographique et Historique des Costes de
I'Amerique Septentrionale. Par M. Denys. P. 40.

^ The enemies of Charles de la Tour, in the charges
which they brought against him at the court of France, did
not fail to make use of the fact that his wife was a staunch
Protestant. He himself appears to have been more pliant
« in his religious professions, and sometimes conformed to

the Church of Rome, when he deemed it politic to do so.
He continued, however, to appeal to Boston for aid, on the
score of his Protestant faith (Palfrey, History of New
England, II., 144) ; and his Huguenot brethren in La Ro-
chelle retained their warm regard for him to the last.

ACADIA REVERTS TO FRANCE. 1 39

from the queen a renewal of the commission chap. i.
which the late king, Louis XIII., had given him, 165 1.
as governor and lieutenant-general in Acadia.
Soon, however, by another change of masters, ^^^^^^^^^y
the province reverted to England. La Tour
surrendered his fort to the vessels of Oliver
Cromwell ; but again his ready wit and his ex-
traordinary powers of persuasion served him,
and loss was converted into advantage. Be-
taking himself to England, he sought an inter-
view with Cromwell, and pleading the grant
that had been made by the English government
twenty-five years before to his father and him-
self, under Sir William Alexander's patent, he
obtained from the Protector the cession of a
vast territory, including the whole coast of the
Bay of Fundy on both sides, and extending one
hundred leagues inland. The next year. La
Tour sold his rights to a portion of this terri-
tory, and withdrew from public life. His long ^^ ^^^
and changeful career terminated peacefully in 9,
the year 1666, when he died at the age of
seventy-two.'

' By his second marriage, Charles de la Tour had two sons
and three daughters. The elder son, Jacques de St. Etienne,
born in 1661, married Anne Melan^on, and lived at Cape
Sable. He died before 1688, leaving four children. The
younger son, Charles, born in 1664, lived at Port Royal, and
was not married. In 1696, we find him engaged with young
Gabriel Bernon, son of the refugee, in trade between Bos-
ton, Portsmouth and Port Royal. He was arrested in
November or December of that year, when about to pro-
ceed from Portsmouth to Acadia, or Nova Scotia — just
then under British rule — and his sloop was condemned as a
lawful prize, under charge of having violated one of the
provisions of the oppressive Navigation Laws, as well as a

I40 UNDER THE EDICT : ACADIA.

Chapel, In the century following, under British rule,
J711- Acadia, or Nova Scotia, as it was now called,
j^gQ saw another Huguenot occupying the chief
office in the province. This was John Paul
Mascarene, a native of Castres in Languedoc :
of whose parentage and early life an account
will be given In a subsequent chapter. Coming
to England in his boyhood, a refugee from per-
secution in France, Mascarene was naturalized
in the year 1706, and received a lieutenant's
commission in the British army. In 1711 he
was sent to Nova Scotia in command of a body

recent enactment of the colonial legislature of Massachu-
setts, that prohibited all commerce between that colony and
Nova Scotia. This enactment, which had been inspired by
the suspicion that the French— then at war with England —
obtained supplies at Port Royal, bore very heavily on the
Acadians, who depended so greatly for subsistence upon
their dealings with New England. Bernon, and other
French refugees in Boston, who were interested in the trade
with Acadia, especially resented it, and several of them left
Massachusetts soon after, in consequence, it would appear,
of this interference with that trade. " You can well see,"
wrote young Bernon to his father, then in England, " from
the manner in which these people treat us, that it will be
impossible for us to live any longer among them, without
strong recommendations to the governor who is expected
soon. They commit the greatest possible injustice toward
the inhabitants of Acadia ; for whilst they assume to take
them under their protection, they pass laws that condemn
them to perish with cold and hunger ; and if they do any
thing contrary to the interests of the English, they punish
them as subjects of the king of England." — (Bernon Papers.)
Charles de la Tour went to France, and died before the
year 1732 ; and the only son of Jacques, his elder brother,
removed also from Nova Scotia. The descendants of two
of the three sisters, Anne and Marguerite de la Tour, are
numerous in that province. — (Hannay, History of Acadia :
pp. 206, 287, 324. Mass. Archives, French Collections, vol.
Ill-, P- 33I-)

JOHN PAUL MASCARENE. 141

of troops. He rose to the rank of lieutenant- Chap. i.
colonel, and became a member of the provincial 1740-
council ; and in 1740 he was appointed lieuten- 1760.
ant-governor of Nova Scotia. His administra-
tion of affairs in the province was eminently-
wise and able. Succeeding an injudicious and
incompetent governor, he pursued a course so
conciliatory, and at the same time so firm, that
he won the entire respect and confidence of both
the French and the English. When a strong
French force besieged Annapolis, in 1 744, the
Acadians refused to take part with the besiegers
against the British, declaring that they " lived
under a mild and tranquil government, and had
all reason to be faithful to it."' Mascarene's
moderation, characteristic of his Huguenot
race, was sometimes an occasion of perplexity to
the French authorities in Quebec and in Ver-
sailles. The Indians, friendly to the English,
having burned down the church at Port Royal
or Annapolis, he ordered it to be rebuilt. He
encouraged the Acadian villagers in their efforts
to obtain missionaries, and protected the priests
when peaceable and loyal to the English govern-
ment. The governor of Canada writes home October
that he cannot perceive the motives for this
policy, " unless Mr. Mascarene calculates that
mild measures will be more effectual than any
other to detach the affections of the Acadians
from France." ^ Unlike the career of the adven-

' Hannay, History of Acadia. P. 336.
* Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State
of New York. Vol. X., p. 17.

28,
1745.

142 UNDER THE EDICT : ACADIA.

Chap. I. turous La Tour in so many respects, that of
1740- John Paul Mascarene resembled it in two par-
j^^Q ticulars. His relations with New England were
always intimate. Massachusetts shared his af-
fections with Nova Scotia, and he had fast
friends among its leading citizens. Like La
Tour also, he spent his last years in honorable
retirement, dying in Boston on the fifteenth day
of January, 1760, at the age of seventy-five.

But we must go back to the seventeenth cen-
tury. For a number of years preceding aiid
following the period of the Revocation of the
Edict of Nantes, Acadia was a possession of the
French crown : and insecurely as he held it,
Louis XIV. did not overlook this province, in
taking measures for the extirpation of heresy, in
the colonies of France as well as at home. Oc-
casionally, his faithful clergy saw fit to remind
him of the duty. The bishop of Quebec, and
his grand vicar, always keen to detect heresy,
represent to the king the danger of its spread in
this remote part of their large diocese, and urge
upon him the importance of crushing it at once.
They learn with alarm that a stationary fishery
is about to be established in Acadia, by a num-
ber of Huguenots, who will bring over a minis-
ter with them. The kingr is reminded that these
people have been forbidden to settle in Canada,
and it is especially important that they be not
tolerated in Acadia.' The governor of Canada

' Resume d' une lettre de M. Douyt, Grand Vicaire de
I'Evesque de Quebec. {1,681). A appris qu'on se prepare a
faire un etablissement en 1' Acadie pour une pesche seden-

HERESY IN ACADIA. HS

concurs in these representations, but writes chap, i.
more cautiously, and as if aware of the difficul- 1683.
ties of the situation. It would be unwise, he
thinks, to permit French Huguenots to come
and form an establishment so near to the En-
glish in New England, who are likewise of the
religion called Reformed, and in a country to
which no vessels from France come for pur-
poses of commerce, and which subsists only
througrh intercourse with the inhabitants of Bos-
ton. It would indeed be dangerous to set up
any new claims there, inasmuch as the king has
neither an armed force nor a governor of his
own in that territory, and hence there would be
the risk of losing it in a single day.'

The enterprise viewed with so much anxiety
by the Canadian authorities, clerical and lay,
was conducted by one Bergier,^ an intelligent

taire, que M. le Sr. Berger et ceux qui passent avec lay sont
tous Huguenots, et menent un ministre. — Massachusetts
Archives, French Collections, III., 23.

M. r Evesque de Quebec, 19 Novembre, 1682. II est im-
portant de ne point donner d' atteint a 1' Edit qui deffand
aux Huguenots de s'etablir en Canada, et surtout de ne les
point souffrir dans 1' Accadie. — Id., III., 45.

' Rapport de M. de la Barre au Ministre. A Quebec le
4 Novembre 1683. * * * H est important, Monseigneur,
de ne pas permettre que des Huguenots Franyois viennent
former un etablissement si proche des Anglois de la Nouvelle
Angleterre, qui sont aussi de la religion qu'on appelle Re-
form^e et en un pays ou il ne vient point de navires de France
pour y faire le commerce, et qui ne subsiste que par celuy
qu'il fait avec les Bostonnais. II est mesme dangereux d' y
establir aucuns droits nouveaux, parceque le Roy n' ayant
ny force ny Gouverneur en son nom au dt pays, 1' on
courreroit risque de le perdre en un jour. Id., III., 93.

' The family of Bergier was prominently represented in

144 UNDER THE EDICT: ACADIA.

Chap. I. and energetic merchant of La Rochelle, and " a
1682- most obstinate Huguenot," who had associated
1684 with himself three Protestant citizens of Paris,
the Sieurs Gautier, Boucher, and De Mantes, for
the purpose of engaging in the shore fishery in
Acadia. This important business had been,
of late, greatly interfered with by the fishermen
of New England, who were permitted by the
acting commandant of Acadia, De la Valliere, to
follow their craft freely in the waters of the

Bergier province, Upon payment of a certain toll.

RocheUe. Bergier, who had visited Acadia, succeeded in
obtainine from the orovernment of Louis XIV.
the right to establish a stationary or coast fish-
ery, and to build a fort for its protection. The
great Colbert was still in power, though that
power was waning : ' and it was doubtless due
to his urgency that Bergier and his associates
were permitted to carry out their plans, in spite
of the remonstrances from Quebec.^ In 1684,
the king appointed Bergier his lieutenant for the

the municipality of La Rochelle during the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. The Acadian trader may have been
one of the numerous sons of Isaac Bergier, who was " capi-
taine de la ville," in 165 1. — La France Protestante, deuxieme
edition, s. v.

' He died September 6, 1683.

' Memoire sur I'Acadie, Mass. Archives, French Collec-
tions, III., 49. It appears that Bergier went by Colbert's
orders in 1682 to Acadia to effect the establishment, and
came back in December in the same year to make his report
to the minister. A second visit was made in the spring of
1683 by command of Colbert, who died before Bergier's
return.

HUGUENOTS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 1 45

coast and country of Acadia, for the following- chap. i.
three years.' 1686.

East of Nova Scotia and the adjoining island
of Cape Breton, the French had planted a
colony, some years before, in the bay of Placentia,
on the southern coast of Newfoundland. The
Sieur Parat, governor of Placentia, reports to
Louis XIV., in 1686, that in consequence of the
measures he has taken, there remains but a soli-
rary Huguenot family in the place. Several
have renounced heresy, as will be seen by the
inclosed certificates of abjuration. The surgeon
of the port being a Huguenot, he has sent him
home upon a ship sailing for Marseilles.^ One
is tempted to suspect that a vein of irony can be
discovered in the governor's communication, as

' Provision de Lieutenant de Roy pour le Sr. Bergier.
Mass. Arcliives, French Collections, IIL, 113.

^ Memoire du Sieur Parat : Plaisance, 16S6. ]\Liss.
Archives, French Collections, IIL, 321.

In another case of expulsion, which occurred the follow-
ing year, M. Parat failed to gain the approval of his supe-
riors. From the minister's letter to him, November 9, 1687,
it appears that the person expelled was named Basset, that
he had lived in Boston for fourteen years, and that Parat
was indebted to him for a considerable sum of money.
Investigation showed that very probably the governor had
been prompted by a desire to avoid payment, and to take
possession of his creditor's goods. He is roundly berated
by the minister, and ordered to make instant restitution. —
Mass. Archives, French Collections, IIL, 279. The subject
of this treatment was undoubtedly David Basset, mariner,
whose petition for denization had been granted by Governor
Andros the year before. The letter of denization states that
he " hath been a Resident and Inhabitant with his famyley
in ye Towne of Boston for the space of fourteene Yeares
Last past." — Mass. Archives, CXXVL, 373.

146 NEWFOUNDLAND.

Chap. I. lie proceeds to ask whether he ought to arrest
1686. the French of the Pretended Reformed ReHgion
who are on board English vessels, and if so,
whether the requirement extends to the case of
those who have been naturalized as Englishmen.
If such be his Majesty's intention, he adds de-
murely, a force will be needed to enable him
to execute it. The king's reply is equally
demure. The governor may very properly
cause such seamen to be arrested and sent to
France, but let him be careful not to undertake
anything in this regard without being sure of
success.'

Both the king and his servant knew that
France held the little settlement of Placentia by
a very feeble tenure. Six years later, the place
was destroyed by the English. Meanwhile the
governor could enforce upon the few defenseless
Huguenots of his colony the penalties of the
Edict of Revocation, without fear of rebuke
from his royal master. How faithfully he did so
we learn by a letter of the minister Louvois to
the Sieur Parat in 1689. "The king has ap-
proved of the course you have taken in the case
of the daughter of the Sieur Pasteur,' in sendino^
her to the nuns of Quebec, and his Majesty gives
you liberty to compel the new converts whose
conduct is not sufficiently exact, to send their

' Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State
of New York, Vol. IX., 318.

^ " M. Pastour" writes from Placentia, January i, 1691, to
the French minister of marine, informing him that the island
of St. Peter, in Acadia, has been pillaged by a party of
Englishmen. — Documents, etc., IX., 922.

THE SIEUR PASTEUR'S DAUGHTER. 147

daughters thither, in order that they may be chap. i.
taught the duties of rehgion, and may be kept 1689
there until an opportunity maybe found to marry
them to good Catholics. You will, however, be
careful to proceed cautiously in this matter, lest
these efforts should alarm the new converts, and
drive them to the resort of escaping to the
English." '

' Lettie du IMinistre au Sieur Parat. A Versailles, le 7
Juin, 1689. Le Roy a approuve la conduite que vous avez
tenu pour la fiUe du Sieur Pasteur, en I'envoyant aux Reli-
gieuses de Quebec, et Sa Majeste vous laisse la liberte
d'obliger les nouveaux convertis dont la conduitte n'est pas
assez exacte, a y envoyer leurs filles, pour leur apprendre les
devoirs de la religion et y etre gardees jusqu' a ce qu' on
trouve a les marier a des bons catholiques. Vous observerez
cependant d' y aporter quelque menagement, en sortequi ce
soin n'effarouche point les nouveaux convertis, et ne les
oblige point a prendre le party de passer aux Anglois. —
Mass. Archives, French Collections, IH., 357.

CHAPTER II.

NEW NETHERLAND.
1623 1664.

Chap II Eight years of strife and bloodshed in
„"~ , France, beoinnino- with the massacre of Yassy,

March 1, ' & & ^ ,/

1562. were terminated by the peace of Saint Germain,
August 8, at the close of the third civil war. The treaty

1570. . ^

that announced to the distracted country a
cessation of hostilities between Protestant and
Romanist, secured to the former a certain
measure of religious liberty. '' P'or the first
time in their history, the relations of the Hu-
guenots of France to the state were settled by
an edict which w^as expressly stated to be per-
petual and irrevocable."' Not many months
, elapsed, however, before the insincerity and the

24, ineffectiveness of the Edict of Pacification be-

1572. , . , ,

came apparent ; and scarcely two years had

passed when the massacre of Saint Bartholo-
mew's day realized the worst fears of the
Protestant party. The satanic scheme that
aimed at the extermination of the hated sect,
failed of accomplishing its end ; but France
was deluged in blood ; and among the thousands
w^ho were butchered in cold blood, or in the

' History of the Rise of the Huguenots of France, by
Henry M. Baird. Vol. II., p. 366.

THE WALLOONS. 1 49

frenzy of lanatical zeal, many of the noblest chap. ii.
and purest of her sons perished. i^y2.

Immediately after the massacre of St. Bar-
tholomew's day, large numbers of the inhabitants
of Bretagne, Normandy, and Picardy fled to the
English islands of Jersey and Guernsey, as well
as to Great Britain itself ; and larger numbers
emigrated, both to England and to Holland, from
the Walloon country, on the north-eastern bor-
der of France. The Walloons were the inhab-
itants of the region now comprised by the
French department du Nord, and the south-
western provinces of Belgium. They were a
people of French extraction, and spoke the
French lana-uasfe. Zealous missionaries had
preached the doctrines of the Reformation
among the Walloons, about the middle of the
sixteenth century ; and although the mass of
the people remained attached to the Roman
religion, multitudes embraced the new faith. In
spite of the measures employed by the Spanish
government for the repression of the move-
ment, secret assemblies of Protestant worship-
ers were held. In all the principal towns of
the region — at Lisle, at Arras, at Douay, Valen-
ciennes, Tournay, Mons, Oudenarde, Ghent,
Antwerp and Mechlin — congregations were
organized; and in 1563 the Synod of the Wal-
loon Churches in the provinces of Artois, Fland-
ers, Brabant, and Hainault was formed.

The introduction of the Spanish Inquisition 1561.
into the Netherlands had already driven thou-
sands of Walloon families into exile. Of these,

1544.

150 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. many established themselves in E norland, takine
1561. with them the industries and the commercial
enterprise that brought new prosperity to that
country. The manufacture of woolen, linen and
silk fabrics, introduced by Protestant workmen
from the Belgian and Flemish provinces, spread
from London and Sandwich, where the refugees
first settled, to many other places, and was car-
ried on with singular success. Exposed some-
times to annoyance and injury, as their skill and
thrift excited the jealousy of native artisans, the
strangers enjoyed for the most part the favor of
the people among whom they had come to
dwell, and found England a sanctuary both for
their temporal interests and for their religion.
Walloon churches were founded more than a
century before the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes, in London, Canterbury, Norwich, South-
ampton and other principal towns of the king-
dom. The Walloons in Canterbury, as early as
the year 1561, were granted the use of the
under-croft or crypt of the cathedral, as a place
of worship.

Another and a larger emigration took place
a few years later, setting toward the Protestant
state of Holland. The Walloon provinces of Ar-
tois, and Hainault, with a part of French Fland-
1579. gj.g refuse,^ to join Holland and Zealand in form-
ino- the commonwealth of the United Nether-
lands, preferring a reconciliation with Spain.
The Protestants who still remained in these
provinces, now removed by thousands into Hol-
land. Here they were welcomed, as well by the

THE REFUGE IN HOLLAND. 15 I

government as by their co-religionists, and were ciiap. 11.
admitted with characteristic liberaHty to the en- 157^.
joyment of equal rights, social, political and
religious. Walloon colonies were formed, and
Walloon churches were organized, in all the
principal cities of the Dutch republic. These
communities, while they acquired the language
of their adopted country, retained their own ;
and the Walloon families, though notunfrequent-
ly allied by intermarriage with those of their
hosts, preserved for several generations a char-
acter distinctly French. From time to time they
were recruited by accessions from the perse-
cuted Huguenots of France. Eminent French-
men came to occupy the pulpits and to fill
the chairs to which they were w^elcomed in
the universities of the land. The Walloon
churches, while retaining their own ritual and
mode of government, became incorporated
with the ecclesiastical establishment of the
nation. The contribution thus made to the in-
dustrial, the intellectual, and the religious
strength of the people was of incalculable worth.
Early in the seventeenth century, not a few
families, French and Walloon, that afterwards
took root in America, were living in these hos-
pitable towns of Holland. Among the leading-
names that may be mentioned, were those of
Bayard, De Forest, De la Montagne. Nicolas xhe
Bayard, a French Protestant clergyman, had bayards,
taken refuge in the Netherlands after the mas-
sacre of St. Bartholomew's day. His name
appears among the earliest signatures attached

152 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. to the articles of the Walloon Synod. Tradition
i'-8o. reports that he had been a professor of theology
in Paris, and connects him with the family rep-
resented by the famous knight " sans peur et
sans reproche." In the next generation, Lazare '
1608. Bayard, perhaps a son of Nicolas, was enrolled
among the Walloon clergy in Holland. It was
this Huguenot pastor, we are led to believe,
whose daughter Judith married Peter Stuyvesant,
the last of the Dutch oovernors of New Neth-
erland ; and whose son, Samuel, was the father
of Nicolas, Balthazar, and Peter Bayard, from
whom the American branches of this family
descend. Amsterdam was the adopted home of
the Bayards, and of several other families that
eventually removed to New Netherland.
1584, No city of Holland drew to itself greater

numbers of the Walloons and French, than
Leyden ; and no other is invested with so much
interest for the student of American history.
For it was here that the Puritan founders of
Plymouth colony sojourned during almost the
Leyden. whole period of their stay in the Netherlands.
Here they conceived and matured the plan of
removing to the New World, and of laying the
foundations of a state, in which, while free to
worship God according to their own consciences,
they might live under the protection of England,

' The traditional name is Balthazar Bayard. It is prob-
able that he bore both names ; for his daughter Judith,
who married Governor Stuyvesant, named her eldest son
(baptized in the Dutch Church, New Amsterdam, October
13, 1647,) " Balthazar Lazarus."

WALLOONS AND FRENCH IN LEYDEN. 153

and enlarge her dominions. And it was here Chap. 11.
that a body of Protestant Walloons and French- 1609.
men, influenced no doubt by the example of
their Puritan neighbors, entertained a similar
project, and engaged in an enterprise that led
to the colonization of New York.

" Fair and beautiful "^ Leyden had regained
its eminence among the flourishing cities of
Holland, since the memorable siege of 1574. It
was now the principal manufacturing town in the
Netherlands ; and its great university, founded
as a memorial of the heroism of its inhabitants
during that siege, held the foremost place
among the universities of Europe. Attracted
doubtless both by the educational and by the
industrial advantages of the place, many of
the French Protestants had chosen this town
as their home. A Walloon church was founded
in Leyden as early as the year 1584. Some of
its members were of noble rank ; a few were
scholars ; but most of them were artisans, who
met with encouragement in this busy and popu-
lous city to ply their several crafts. Almost
every branch of industry was represented among
them ; but the principal employments were those
of the wool-carder,^ the weaver, the clothier,
and the dyer.

The Walloons and French in Leyden com-
posed a considerable colony, when in 1609 they

' Bradford.

" It was among the humble workmen who pursued these
crafts that the Reformation in France won some of its earliest
jidherents : as Jean Leclerc, " the wool-carder of Meaux."

Ero-;7:ii3ts

154 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. saw a company of English refugees arrive in
1609- that city. The strangers were simple farmers
1620. from Nottinghamshire, who, learning that re-
ligious freedom could be enjoyed In the Low
Countries, had come with John Robinson their
teacher to seek an asylum there. The Brownlsts,
^.,^^,^ as they were opprobrlously called, had first de-
1203, sl2:ned to make Amsterdam their home ; but

to "^

iKzy after a few months' stay, they determined to

1633. ^ T 1 '1 11

remove to Leyden, a place recommended to
them by Its " sweet situation." They soon
"fell to such trades and employments as
they best could, and at length came to raise a
Ti:e competent and comfortable living, but with hard
and continual labor."' Their relations with
the Dutch, and with their French and Walloon
neighbors, are known to have been most friendly.
Some of the English became weavers ; Bradford,
one of their number, "served a Frenchman
at the working of silks."^ It is not unlikely
that others were similarly associated. Reli-
gious interests drew them still' more closely
together. The magistrates of Leyden had
granted the use of the same church to the
French and the English strangers. St. Catha-
rine Gasthuls was the building thus occupied
from 1609^ till 1622. In the course of time,

' Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation, 17.

^ Mather, Magnalia, II., chap. I., §4.

^ History of the Scottish Church, Rotterdam. Notices of
the British Churches in the Netherlands. By the Rev. Wil-
liam Steven. Edinburgh, 1832, p. 314. Mr. George Sum-
ner has questioned the statement, so far as it concerns the
Brovvnists. — (Contributions to the History of the Pilgrim
Fathers.)

PROJECTS OF EMIGRATION. 155

some of the French in Leyden, as well as several Chap. 11.
members of the Dutch churches,' embraced the 1609-
distinctlve religious views of the English Sep- ^^^^o
aratists, and were admitted into their commu-
nion.

But the Puritans were not long content to re-
main in Holland. Their children were exposed
to many temptations in a large city ; the laxity
with which the Sabbath was observed by the
Dutch distressed them sorely ; they coulci not
bear the thought of losing "their language and
their name of English ;" and besides, they longed
that God might be pleased " to discover some
place unto them, though in America, where they
might live and comfortably subsist," and at the
same time "keep their name and nation."^

Projects of xA.merican colonization had long
been entertained in England. From time to
time, British merchants and adventurers had
embarked in the enterprise, and the government
had encouraged it by ample charters. But the
attempts of the Virginia Compan}' to plant set-
tlements at various points along the coast, from
Cape Fear to Nova Scotia, had failed, with a

' " Divers of their members [members of tlie Dutch
churches] . . . betook themselves to the communion of
our church, went with us to New Engkind. . . . One
Samuel Terry was received from the French church there
into communion with us. . . . There is also one Philip De-
lanoy, born of French parents, came to us from Leyden." —
Winslow, Brief Narration, 95, 96 ; Palfrey, History of New
England, I., 161.

^ Winslow, Brief Narration, 81 ; Palfrey, History of New
England, I., 147.

156 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. single exception. The colony founded at James-
1609- town in 1607, after years of struggle and weak-
1620. ness, was now well established : and the eyes of
England were directed, with hope and satisfac-
tion to this rising state, which was ultimately to
enjoy the name heretofore applied indefinitely
to the whole seaboard south of Acadia — the
name of Virginia.

The Leyden Puritans at length determined to
remove, under the favor of the Viro-inia Com-
pany, to /\merica. Their design was to plant a
Negotia- colony "in the northern parts of Virginia": —
tions. sQyj-|^ Qf i-i-ig territory then claimed by the Dutch,
but north of Virginia proper. Negotiations
were opened with the Companv, and with

1 fil7 .

merchants in London friendly to the under-
taking, for the purpose of procuring a patent,
and of obtaining the money needed for the
expenses of the voyage and the settlement.
These neo^otiations lasted througfli two or three
years. Various difficulties were raised in the way
of the expedition. The king was reluctant to
encourage a colony of Separatists. Severe
terms were proposed by the London merchants,
to whom the Puritans looked for pecuniary aid.
The Virginia Company delayed to grant a
patent.
February, Meantime the plans of their English guests
1620. Y^^^ come to the knowledge of the Dutch. Rob-
inson himself, discouraged by the ill-success of
the efforts made in England, was inclined to
seek aid from capitalists in Amsterdam, and to
plant a colony near the Hudson river, under the

THE PURITANS LEAVE LEYDEN. 157

protection of the States-General of Holland, chap. 11.
The Dutch merchants entered heartily into the ^^~^
project. They made "large offers" of assist-
ance, engaging to transport the English families
to America, free of expense, and to furnish them
abundantly with cattle. It was for the govern-
ment, however, to sanction the expedition, to
give the lands, and to pledge its protection.
The States-General of Holland were not pre-
pared to do this. At the very moment when
the application of the Puritans was made, the
scheme of a Dutch West India Company was
engaging the attention of that body. But the
plan was not yet mature : and when a memorial
was addressed to the Prince of Orange, asking
that the English families might be sent to New ^ -j
Netherland as colonists, it was, after much con- ^^^
sideration, refused.'

At length, however, the original application of
the Puritans to England proved successful : a
patent came from the Virginia Company ; the
Brownists, — those at least of the number who
were to go as pioneers for the rest, — sold
their little property ; and leaving " that good July
and pleasant city " of Leyden, " which had
been their resting place near twelve years,"
the Pilerim Fathers of New England sailed
from Delft-Haven, fourteen miles from that August
cit)'. Among the passengers on the Speed-
well were several of the French, who had

* Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State
of New York. Vol.1. Holland Documents. Pp. 22-24.

158 NEW NETFIERLAND.

Chap. II. decided to cast in their lot with these

1620. Enehsh brethren. WilHam Mohnes and his
daughter Priscilla, afterwards the wife of John
Alden ; and Phihp Delanoy,' born in Leyden of
French parents, were of the number. Others
followed, the next year, in the F'ortune,

Meanwhile, the Walloons of Leyden had
planned to follow the example of their Puritan
neighbors, — with whom they had doubtless con-
sulted freely on the subject, — and were prepared
to remove, in a considerable body, to America.
Less than a year- after the sailing of the Speed-
well, the British ambassador at the Hague, Sir
Dudley Carleton, was approached by a delegate
from this band. " Here hath been with me of
late," wrote the minister, "a certaine Walon, an
^^^^ inhabitant of Leyden, in the name of divers

1621. families, men of all trades and occupations, who
desire to goe into Virginia, and there to live in
the same condition as others of his Ma''^^ sub-
jects." The messenger brought a petition, signed
by fifty-six heads of families, Walloon and
French, all of the Reformed Reliofion. He in-

' Others of this name remained in Le3'den. Jaques de la
Noy, perhaps a brother of the emigrant to New England,
presented his son Philippe for baptism in Leyden, June i,
1625. Guillaume de Lannoy and Geertje Barthelemi were
married September 19, 1633. A daughter was baptized
July 23, 1634 : Marie de Lannoy and Jeanne de Lannoy,
witnesses.

^ Mr. Brodhead, History of the State of New York, vol.
I., p. 146, has by mistake placed this interview a year later —
in 1622. The letter of Sir Dudley Carleton to Secretary
Sir George Calvert, which fixes the time, is dated July 19,
1621. — (State Papers, Holland, Bundle 141 (folio 308), in
Public Record Office, London.)

JESSE DE FOREST. 159

formed the ambassador further that if the chap, ii,
proposition should find favor with his Majesty, 162 1.
the petitioners would send over one of their
number to England, to treat with the Virginia
Company. Carleton himself strongly seconded
their request, judging that the colonists " may
surely be of singular use to our Company," if
some equitable terms might be agreed upon for
their transportation to America.

The spokesman, and undoubtedly the leader
of the Leyden band of Walloons, was Jesse de
Forest. The petition which he presented to the
ambassador was signed by him, in the name of
the rest. It read thus :

"His lordship the ambassador of the most Petition
serene king of Great Britain is very humbly Walloons
entreated to advise and answer us in regard to pr^ench.
the articles which follow.

" I. Whether it would please his Majesty to
permit fifty to sixty families, as well Walloons
as French, all of the Reformed religion, to go
and settle in Virginia, a country under his
obedience, and whether it would please him
to undertake their protection and defense from
and against all, and to maintain them in their
religion.

"II. And whereas, in the said families there
might be found nearly three hundred persons ;
and inasmuch as they would wish to carry with
them a quantity of cattle, as well for purposes
of husbandry as for their support, and for these
reasons they would require that they should
have more than one ship ; whether his Majesty

l6o NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. would not accommodate them with one, equipped
162 1, and furnished with cannon and other arms, on
board of which — together with the ship which
they may be able to provide for themselves —
they could accomplish their voyage, and which
might return and obtain commodities to be con-
veyed to the places that may be granted by his
Majesty, as well as carry back the products of
that country.

" III. Whether he would permit them, upon
their arrival in the said country, to choose a spot
convenient for their abode, among the places
not yet cultivated by those whom it has pleased
his Majesty to send thither already.

" IV. Whether, having reached the said spot,
they might be allowed to build a town for their
security, and furnish it with the requisite fortifi-
cations; where they might elect a governor
and magistrates, for the administration of police
as well as of justice, under those fundamental
laws which it has pleased his said Majesty to
establish in the said territories.

"V. Whether his said Majesty would give them
cannon and munitions for the maintenance of
the said place, and would grant them, in case of
necessity, the privilege of manufacturing pow-
der, making bullets and casting cannon, under
the arms and escutcheon of his said Majesty.

" VI. Whetherhe would grant them a township
or territory, in a radius of eight English miles or
say, sixteen miles in diameter, which they might
improve as fields, meadows, vineyards, and for
other uses ; which territory, whether conjointly

PRIVILEGES DESIRED. i6i

or severally, they would hold from his Majesty chap. ii.
upon fealty and homage ; no others being allowed 1621.
to dwell within the bounds of the said lands, un-
less they shall have taken letters of citizenship ; in
which territory they would reserve to themselves
inferior manorial rights ; and whether it might
be permitted to those of their number who are Manorial
entitled to maintain the rank of noblemen, to "^^^
declare themselves such.

"VII. Whether they would be permitted in the
said lands to hunt all game, whether furred or
feathered, to fish in the sea and the rivers, to
cut heavy timber, as well for shipbuilding
as for commerce, at their own will ; in a
word, whether they could make use of all things,
either above or beneath the ground, at their
pleasure and will, the royal rights reserved ; and
whether they could dispose of all things in
trade with such persons as may be permitted
them.

" Which provisions would extend only to the
said families and those belonging to them, without
admitting those who might come afterwards to
the said territory to avail themselves of the
same, except so far as they might of their own
power grant this to them, and not beyond, unless
his said Majesty should make a new grant to
them.

"And whereas, they have learned that his
said Majesty has established in London a public
warehouse at which all merchandises from those
countries must be unloaded, and not elsewhere ;
and considering that it is more than reasonable

I 62 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. that those who by their toil and industry have
1621. procured to the public the enjoyment of that
country, should be the first to enjoy the fruits
thereof : They will submit to the ordinances
which have been established there to this effect,
which will for their better observance be com-
municated to them.

" Under which conditions and privileges, they

would promise fealty and obedience as would

Promises become faithful and obedient subjects to their

of fealty, j^jj^or and sovereiofn lord, submittinof themselves

to the laws generally established in the said

countries, to the utmost of their ability.

" Upon that which precedes, his lordship the
ambassador, will, if he please, give his advice ;
as also, if such be his pleasure, to have the said
privilege forwarded in due form as early as pos-
sible, in view of the shortness of the time that
remains from this to the month of March (the
season favorable for the embarkation), in order
to give due attention to all that may be required.
So doing he will lay his servants under obliga-
tion to pray God for the accomplishment of His
holy purposes, and for his health and long life."

This petition was accompanied by a paper
containing the signatures of all the petitioners,
attached to a contract or covenant in the fol-
lowing terms :

" We promise his lordship, the ambassador of
the most serene king of Great Britain, that we
will go to settle in Virginia, a part of his Maj-
esty's dominions, at the earliest time practicable,
and this under the conditions set forth in the

' i

&, w^ ;'^^;

"o?.

^"•^

"Z^,

'^^'"''^4^. ' ^

\ ^, ^

11.

THE COMPANY'S ANSWER. 1 63

articles which we have communicated to his chap. n.
said lordship, the ambassador, and not other- leTi.
wise." '

Sir Dudley Carleton favored the project of
the Leyden Walloons.' Some of their demands
he deemed "extravagant" in certain points, but
thought that if his Majesty should approve the
expedition, these features might be modified.
The Lords in Council referred the application
to the Virginia Company. The Company's August
answer was not altogether adverse. They clid
"not conceive it any inconvenience at present
to suffer sixty families of Walloons and French-
men not exceeding the number of three hundred
persons to go and inhabit in Virginia ; the said
persons resolving and taking oath to become his
Majesty's faithful and obedient subjects : and
being willing as they make profession to agree
in points of faith, so likewise to be conformable

'British State Papers: Holland. 1622, Jan. — March.
Bundle No. 145. Indorsed : " Supplication of certaine Wallons
and French who are desirous to goe into Verginia. 1622."
The date should be 1621, since the petition was inclosed in
Sir Dudley Carleton's letter of July 21, 162 1 (see above).
"I required of him his demands in writing, with the
signatures of such as were to bear part therein, both which
I send your Honor herewith."

The error is repeated in Documents relative to the Colo-
nial History of New York, Vol. HI., p. 9, where a transla-
tion of this petition is given. For the original French, see
the Appendix to the present volume.

"* He refers to it again, February 5, 1621 [1622, n. s.] :
" Within these few months divers inhabitants of this coun-
try to a considerable number of faniilyes have been suters
unto me, to procure them a place of habitation amongst his
Ma"^* subjects in those parts." — Documents relative to the
Colonial History of the State of New York, Vol. HI., p. 7.

164

NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. to the form of government now established in
J621. the Church of England." But the Company
gave no encouragement to the expectation of
material help for the emigration. They deem
it " so royal a favor in his Majesty, and so sin-
gular a benefit " to those Walloons and French-
men, to be admitted to live in that fruitful land,
under the protection and government of so
mighty and pious a monarch, that they ought
not to expect of his sacred Majesty any aid of
shipping "or other chargeable favor." As for
themselves, " their stock is so utterly exhausted
by these three last years' supplies," that " they
are not able to give them any help, other than
their advice and counsel as to the cheapest
transportation of themselves and their goods,
sibie and the most frugal and profitable management

requests. ^^ their affairs." The request of the emigrants
that they might be allowed to live in a distinct
body by themselves, was also thought inadmiss-
ible. The Company " conceive that for the
prosperity and principally the securing of the
plantation in his Majesty's obedience, it is not
expedient that the said families should set down
in one gross and entire body, which the demands
specified, but that they should rather be placed
by convenient numbers in the principal cities,
boroughs and corporations in Virginia, as them-
selves shall choose : there beinof g-iven them such
proportion of land, and all other privileges and
benefits whatsoever, in as ample manner as to
the natural English." This course the Com-
pany " out of their own experience do con-

THE CORRESPONDENCE CEASES. 165

ceive likely to prove better, and more comfort- chap. 11.
able to the said Walloons and Frenchmen, than j^Ji.
that other which they desire."'

The correspondence between the Walloons of
Leyden and the Council for Virginia went no
further.^ Its discontinuance can be easily ex-

' The humble answere of His Ma*'''^ Councell for Vir-
ginia concerning certaine Articles put up by some Walloons
and Frenchemen desirous to goe to Virginia. See the Ap-
pendix to this volume.

° Eight years later, a similar application was made to the
English government, in behalf of a body of French Prot- jmie
estants, asking for encouragement to settle in Virginia. In 1629.
1629, Antoine de^ Ridouet, Baron de Sance, addressed the
following letter to the Secretary of State :

MONSEIGNEUR :

Le desir que j 'ay de servir Sa Majeste et me retirer en
ce pays issy avec ma famille et tout ce qui j 'ay en France
aussy pour faire habituer des franssois protestans en Vir-
ginie pour y planter des vignes, olives, faire des soyes, et du
sel me fait vous suplier tres-humblement d' obtenir de Sa
Majeste quil luy plaise m'honorer de letres de gentilhomme
de sa chambre privee. Avec letres de Denison pour moy
et mon fils. Ei quil luy plaise donner ordre a Monseigneur
I'Ambassadeur qui ira en France d'obtenir comme ayant
I'honneur d'estre son domestique, liberte et surete pour moy
avec la jouissence de mon bien afin que par ce moyen et
soubs la faveur de sa Majeste je puisse issy faire transporter
ma famille et mon bien pour estre plus prest a servir sa
Majeste et vous aussy mon seigneur. Sance.

(State Papers, Colonial Series, Vol. V., No. 14. Public
Record Office, London.)

The Baron de Sanc^ was a devoted follower of the Duke
of Soubise, with whom, after the siege of La Rochelle, he
took refuge in England. His proposal to form a colony of
French Protestants in America was favorably entertained
by the government. Elaborate plans for the voyage and the
settlement were drawn up by the leader in consultation with
the attorney-general ; and after many delays the refugees
embarked. Their destination was Carolina ; but they were
landed in Virginia. Of this colony, which maintained a
languid existence for a few years, particulars will be given
in a subsequent volume.

1 66 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. plained. The project of a Dutch West India

162 1. Company had long been agitated, and it was now
about to be carried into effect. While Jesse de

June Forest was in communication with the British
ambassador at the Hague, the States-General of
the United Provinces, sitting in the old palace
of the Binnenhof, in the same city, were prepar-
ing a patent for such a company, and con-
ferring upon it vast powers and privileges. The

June 21 final organization, however, was delayed for two
1623. years more. Meanwhile the government be-
came aware of the designs of the Walloons and
French in Leyden. Jesse de Forest, the intel-
ligent and capable leader of the proposed move-
ment, had not desisted from the effort to brinof
it to a successful consummation. Before the
West India Company had actually commenced
its operations, he submitted his cherished plan
of emigration to the Provincial States of Hol-
land. That body referred it to the directors of
the new Company, who reported most favorably.

A ii 21 "They have examined the paper relative to the

1622. families to be conveyed to the West Indies, and
are of opinion that it is very advantageous for
the Company, and therefore that an effort ought
to be made to promote it, with a promise that
they shall be employed." It was suggested,
however, that action upon the subject be post-
poned until the Board of Directors be formed.
The assembly, after due consideration, resolved
that such promise should be given, with the
knowledge of the magistracy.'

' Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State
of New York, Vol. I., p. 28.

PROVIDENTIAL ASPECTS. 167

A mind disposed to observe the events of his- chap. 11.
tory as ordered by a divine Providence, may 1622.
notice with interest the circumstances by which
the course of these two important migrations
was determined. The EngHsh exiles purposed
to seek a home near the Hudson river. Dis-
couraged in their application to England for aid,
they turned to Holland ; but the Dutch were
debarred at that moment from accepting them
as colonists, and they went to Massachusetts.
Following their example, the Walloons sought
first the patronage of the Virginia Company,
having in view perhaps the very same region
for their settlement ; but yielding to the solici-
tations of Holland, now ready to welcome their
services, they found a home in New Netherland,
at the mouth of the Hudson river. Thus, like
Ephraim and Manasseh, in patriarchal story,
each band received, as from hands " guided wit-
tingly," the appropriate and intended blessing.

The enterprising Walloon lost no time in urg-
ing his request before the States-General of the
United Netherlands. On the twenty-seventh of August
Auofust, the councilors of the States of Holland
reported to that august body upon a petition
which had been submitted to them for their con-
sideration. It appears from that report that
Jesse de Forest has applied to the States-General
for their permission to enroll families or individ-
ual colonists professing the Reformed religion,
who may be inclined to undertake the voyage to
the West Indies,' for the advancement and promo-

' By the West Indies, it was common at that day, to desig-

27.

1 68 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. tion of the West India Company. The report
1622. favors the granting of the request : and Jesse de
Forest is permitted to enroll all families having
the required qualifications, to be transported to
the West Indies, there to be serviceable to the
country : on condition that the said DeForest
shall do this with the knowledge and concurrence
of the several cities in which he shall make this
enrollment : and that he shall be held to make
return of the same to the States of Holland.'

nate the whole continent of America. Jean de Laet, one of
the directors of the West India Company, wrote a "Descrip-
tion of the West Indies," the third chapter of which, entitled
"Virginia," included an account of New Netherland. Bau-
dartius speaks of " divers families," most of whom were En-
glish Brownists, as going in 1624 and earlier "from Hol-
land to Virginia in the West Indies." — Doc. Hist, of N. Y.,
IV., 131. In 1632, the ambassadors of the States-General
at the English court, speak of the Mauritius. [Hudson]
river "z>/ the West Indies;" and in 1665, they mention
''^ New Nether-land in the West Indies." — Doc. rel. to Col.
Hist, of N. Y., I., p. 56 ; II., pp. 341-343-

' La requete, presentee par Jesse des Forest aux hauts et
puissants les Etats generaux des Provinces Unies, a ete ren-
voyee le 16" d'Aout dernier aux Etats de Hollande qui I'ont
mis entre les mains de leurs conseillers. II resulte de leur
examen, que Jesse des Forest desirerait obtenir la permis-
sion d'enroler des families ou colonistes de la religion
reformee, inclines a faire le voyage aux Indes occidentales
pour I'avancement et le progres de la Compagnie des Indes
Occidentales — et disposant a la requete du dit Jesse des
Forest lui accordent d'enroler toutes les families ayant la
qualite requise afin d'etre transportees aux Indes occi-
dentales pour etre utiles au service du pays, sous condition
que le dit des Forest le fasse avec connaissance et correspond-
ance niutuelles des villes respectives ou il fera le dit enrole-
ment et qu'il sera tenu d'en faire rapport aux Etats de Hol-
lande.

Ainsi fait a la Haye le 27 d'Aout 1622 par ordonnance des
Conseillers. (Signe) Van der Wolf. — Copie des actes

THE "NEW NETHERLAND" SAILS. 1 69

The six months that followed were doubt- chap. 11.
less occupied in preparations for the long- 1623.
contemplated emigration ; and early in March, March.
1623, the ship New Netherland sailed from the
Texel, having on board a company of thirty
families, " mostly Walloons." ' The emigrants
were bound for the site of the settlement now
projected by the Dutch West India Company,
at the mouth of the Hudson river. Nearly a March
hundred years had passed since the Florentine ^"^^j
explorer Verazzano, sailing under the flag of 1524.
France, had entered the Narrows, and dis-
covered that " most beautiful bay," which now
invites and shelters the commerce of the world.
The intervening century had been one of rest-
less adventure. Many a daring navigator had
searched the Atlantic coast, seeking for a pas-
sage to the Indies, or hoping to discover the
fabled country abounding in gold and precious
stones. But the " crreat river of the North " had
remained hidden, until visited in 1609 by Henry
Hudson. And now, fourteen years later, the first
permanent settlement was to be effected upon
its banks by colonists from Protestant Holland.

The little ship — of two hundred and sixty
tons — took a southerly course, by the Canary
Islands. The vessel was new and staunch, and

echevinaux de Leide, 27 Aout, 1622. (Communicated by
Dr. W. N. du Rieu, bibliothecaire de la bibliotheque Wal-
lonne a Leide.)

' Documentary History of the State of New York, vol.
HL, p. 35. — Documents relative to the Colonial History of
the State of New York, vol. L, pp. 149, 181, 283.

I70 NEW NETHERLAND.

chap^ii. its commander, Cornells Jacobsen May, was an
1623. experienced seaman. Favorable winds were en-
^^y_ countered, off the coast of Guiana, and early in the
month of May the " New Netherland " reached
the mouth of the Mauritius, or Hudson river.
It was a short trip for those days, and the sea-
son was a pleasant one ; but the discomforts of
the passengers — numbering perhaps one hundred
and fifty persons — were likely to be considerable,
in the crowded cabin. Great must have been
their joy, when that " sweet and cheerful pros-
pect," of which travelers have spoken ever since.
The bay greeted their eyes: — the wooded shores risintr
NewYork. ^^ either side of the Narrows, and receding to
encircle the broad harbor ; the beautiful expanse
of the bay, over whose waters, teeming with fish,
flocks of birds were seen darting in search of
their prey. But an unexpected sight awaited
the voyagers, as they approached the land. A
French ship lay in the harbor. Her errand was
to take possession of the country discovered by
Verazzano in the preceding century, and now
claimed by France in virtue of that discovery.
The captain was about to set up the standard of
the French king upon the soil of New Nether-
land. The company of peaceable emigrants could
scarcely have diverted him from his purpose :
but happily there chanced to be a Dutch vessel
of several guns, lying a short distance above :
and the remonstrances of the colonists, seconded
by a show of force from the " Mackerel," were
effectual. The unwelcome visitor soon disap-
peared in the offing, and our Walloons were free
to land upon Manhattan Island.

LANDING ON MANHATTAN ISLAND. I 71

The settlers found a few huts standing- near Chap. 11.
the southern end of the island. A trading-post i^T,
had been maintained here for several years by
the merchants of Amsterdam ; and here Adriaen
Block, a mariner in their employ, passed the
winter of the year 1613, building a ship to replace
his vessel, which had been burned. The first
European child born in this region, Jean Vigne,
of Huguenot parents, here saw the light, in
1614. But the permanent occupation of the site
of the city of New York, dates from the arrival
of the ship ** New Netherland," in May, 1623.

The little company of passengers soon dis-
persed. Eight of them were landed at Manhat- The
tan, there to take possession for the West India SsiSe.
Company. Two families went to the eastward,
to seek a home near the Fresh or Connecticut
river. Four couples, who had been married at
sea, were sent by the first opportunity to form a
settlement on the South river, or Delaware,
about four miles below the present city of Phila-
delphia. Eighteen families remained on the
ship, which now proceeded up the North river.
Landing near the spot where the city of Albany
now stands, the settlers built a fort which they
called Oranee. Around this fort huts of bark
were hastily constructed. Soon the friendly
natives came with presents of peltry, and a brisk
trade was opened with the Mohawks and other
tribes.

A ship that reached Holland in the follow-
ing August, carried letters from New Netherland,
making a cheerful report of the settlement.

1/2 NEW NETHERLAND.

chap^ii. " We were much gratified," wrote the colonists,
1623. "on arriving in this country. Here we found
August, beautiful rivers, bubblino- fountains flowing- down
into the valleys ; basins of running waters in the
flatlands ; agreeable fruits in the woods, such as
strawberries, walnuts, and wild grapes. The
woods abound with venison. There is consid-
erable fish in the rivers ; good tillage land ; here
is, especially, free coming and going, without
fear of the naked natives of the country. Had
we cows, hogs, and other cattle fit for food —
which we daily expect in the first ships — we
would not wish to return to Holland."
1628. By the autumn of the year 1628, the village of

New Amsterdam, lying close to the fort on the
southern point of Manhattan Island, numbered
two hundred and seventy souls. Nearly all the
settlers who sought to establish themselves at the
South and Fresh rivers had returned. Troubles
with the Indians had broken up the settlement
commenced so hopefully at Orange, and all but
a few men left for a garrison had removed to
Manhattan. Among- others came George de
Rapalie, and his wife Catalina Trico, with their
daughter Sarah, born at Orange on the ninth
day of June, 1625.

The names of George de Rapalie and Cata-
lina Trico are the only names of the Walloon or
French colonists brought over by the New
Netherland, in 1623, that have been known
hitherto. No list of the first settlers of New
Amsterdam has come down to us : and no records
of the colony, for the first fifteen years of its

FIRST SETTLERS OF NEW YORK. 1 73

existence, have been preserved. The eadiest c^ap. ii
council minutes, and other historical documents 1623-
in the possession of the State of New York, 1639.
date only as far back as the year 1638 ; while the
registers of the most ancient ecclesiastical body
in the state, the Reformed Protestant Dutch
Church of New York, commence in 1639.

In the absence of other sources of knowl-
edge, the list of Walloons and Frenchmen pre-
sented in July, 162 1, to Sir Dudley Carleton,
assumes a special interest. Among the sixty
names of families desiring to emigrate to Amer-
ica, it would seem highly probable that the
names of some, at least, of the thirty families
that emigrated to New Netherland less than
two years after, might occur. The presumption
is strengthened by the evidence that has been
given above, showing that meanwhile the pro-
ject was not abandoned ; that the leader of the
company that applied to the English govern-
ment for permission to go to Virginia, afterwards
sought the approval of the States-General of
Holland : and that within six months of the
time when the " New Netherland " sailed for
Manhattan, he was engaged in obtaining recruits
for the intended colony.

That Jesse de Forest came to America with
the band of emigrants he had organized, can
scarcely be doubted. In January following
the departure of the Walloons for New Nether- ^24^^^
land, Gerard de Forest, dyer, petitioned the
burgomasters of Leyden, representing that his
brother, Jesse de Forest, had lately left for the

1624.

174 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. West I ndies, and asking that he might be allowed
1624. to take his place in the practice of his trade.'

The Walloon leader broucrht with him his
wife, Marie du Cloux, and her five children.^ A
young Huguenot student of medicine accom-
panied the De Forest family. He was, perhaps,
already betrothed to the only daughter of the
house. Jean Mousnier de la Montagne was a
native of the town of Saintes, in the province
of Saintonge, in France, and had come to the

' Requete de Gerard des Forest, teinturier, demeurant a
Leide, ou il dit que son frere Jesse des Forest est recemment
parti pour les Indes Occidentales et a qui le Magistrat avait
jadis permis de colorer des serges et des camelots, il de-
mande maintenant de remplacer son frere qui est absent,
pour exercer le meme metier. Accorde en Janvier, 1624.
— Copie des actes du 24 Janvier, 1624. (Commui.icated
by Dr. W. N. du Rieu.)

The conjecture that Jesse de Forest may have joined tlie
naval expedition against Brazil, that left Holland in the
latter part of December, 1623, and perished in the course of
that ill-starred enterprise (History of Harlem, N. Y., pp. 93,
94), is certainly unwarranted. His disappearance from
Leyden, at the very time when the scheme of emigration
which he had long sought to promote, reached its fulfillment,
can be better accounted for by the presumption that he emi-
grated with the body of colonists who sailed in that year for
New Netherland.

" The children of Jesse des Forest (du Forest, or de For-
est) and Marie du Cloux, were Jean, Henri (born in 1606),
Rachel, Jesse (born in Leyden, March i, 16 15), Isaac (born
in Leyden, July 7, 16 16), Israel (born in Leyden, and bap-
tized October 7, 1617), and Philippe, born in Leyden, and
baptized September 13, 1620. (Records of the Walloon
Ckurch, and Archives of the City of Leyden.) Two of
these doubtless died young.

For an account of the De Forest family in America, de-
scended from Isaac de Forest, son of Jesse, see the invalu-
able History of Harlem, N. Y., by Mr. James Riker, pp.
571-574-

DEATH OF JESSE DE FOREST. 175

city of Ley den a few years before the emigra- Chap. 11.
tion, to attend the University. 1626.

There were other signers of the Leyden peti-
tion, whose names may be recognized more or less
readily, in spite of the Batavian disguises in
which they appear, beyond the gap of fifteen or
twenty years in the records of New Amsterdam.
Such are the names of De la Mot, Du Four,
Le Rou, Le Roy, Du Pon, Ghiselin, Cornille,
De Trou, De Crenne, Damont, Campion, De
Carpentier, Gille, Catoir, de Croy, Maton, Lam-
bert, Martin, Caspar, and others.

Within three years from the time when these
colonists reached New Netherland, their leader
died. The widow of Jesse de Forest soon re-
turned with her family to Holland, accompanied
by the young medical student, Jean de la Mon-
tao^ne, whose marriaore to Rachel de Forest took
place in Leyden on the twenty-seventh day of
November, 1626. Ten years later. Doctor de la i636.
Montague, now known as a " learned Huguenot
physician," went back to New Netherland, with
his wife and children, and at once took a leading
place in the colony.

Meanwhile, New Amsterdam had become the peter
home of other French-speaking immigrants. ^'^^
Peter Minuit, the second director, was himself a Walloon.
Walloon. His family, during the persecutions ^^^^
in the southern provinces, half a century before,
had taken refuge in Wesel, where Minuit was a
deacon of the Walloon Church the time of his
appointment as director.

It was during his term of office that New

August

1/6 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. Amsterdam was visited for the first time by a
1628. minister of religion. Jonas Michaelius, a clergy-
April 7. man of the Reformed Church of Holland, came
over in the year 1628. It is not known how
long he remained ; but a congregation was
gathered, and public worship was instituted, both
for the French and for the Dutch inhabitants.
Two elders were chosen, the one of whom
was "the honorable director" himself. "We
^1- have had," writes the worthy pastor, " at the
first administration of the Lord's Supper, full
fifty communicants, Walloons and Dutch : not
without great joy and comfort for so many.
Of these, a portion made their first confession
of faith before us, and others exhibited their
church certificates. Some had forgotten to
brinor their certificates with them, not thinkinof
that a church would be formed and established
here ; and some, who had brought them, had
lost them unfortunately in a general conflagra-
tion ; but they were admitted upon the satisfac-
tory testimony of others to whom they were
known, and also upon their daily good deport-
ment. We administer the Holy Sacrament of
the Lord once in four months, provisionally,
until a larger number of people shall otherwise
require. The Walloons and French have no
service on Sundays, other than that in the Dutch
language, of which they understand very little.
A portion of the Walloons are going back to
Fatherland, either because their years here are
expired, or also because some are not very
serviceable to the Company. Some of them

RELIGIOUS SERVICES IN FRENCH. 177

live far away, and could not come on account of chap. 11.
the heavy rains and storms, so that it was j^s.
neither advisable, nor was it possible, to ap-
point any special service for so small a number
with so much uncertainty. Nevertheless, the
Lord's Supper was administered to them in the
French lanLjuas^e, and accordincj to the French
mode, with a preceding discourse, which I had
before me in writing, as I could not trust myself
extemporaneously."'

At an early day, settlements were commenced
by some of the Walloons and French, on the
neighboring shores, and at the upper end of ^^y of the
Manhattan Island. Of this fact we have an waUoons.
intimation in the letter just quoted ; from which
it would appear that already, in 1628, a number
of these colonists were living at some distance
from New Amsterdam. The scanty records of
these ancient times, however, afford us no
more definite information on the subject. In
1636, William Adrianse Bennet and Jacques
Rentyn purchased a tract of land at Gowanus ;
and in the following year, George de Rapalie
bought the farm that loner remained in the
possession of his descendants, on a bay opposite
to Corlear's Hook, which became known as the
Waal-bocht, or Wallabout. Both of these local-
ities are now within the limits of the city of
Brooklyn. Tradition assigns a much earlier
date to the settlement at Wallabout : and the

' Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State
of New York. Vol. II., pp. 764-765.

1/8 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. language of Michaelius certainly favors the
1628- supposition that some of the first colonists had
1664. found a home on the "bay of the Walloons."
Others established themselves on Staten Island.
At a later day— in 1658 — -the village of New
Harlem was laid out, on the northern end of
Manhattan Island ; and of thirty-two male in-
habitants of adult age in 1661, nearly one-half
were Frenchmen and Walloons.
July 28, The appointment of Petrus Stuyvesant to be
1646. director-general of the colony, marked an import-
ant epoch in the social as well as in the political
life of the settlement on Manhattan Island. Stuy-
vesant, we have seen, had married in Holland
Judith Bayard, the daughter of a French Prot-
estant clergyman : and he was accompanied to
America by his widowed sister, who had married
Samuel Bayard, the son of the refugee. This
two-fold alliance with a Huguenot family of
high position, must have brought the new gov-
ernor into close relations with the Walloons and
French who had preceded him to New Amster-
dam ; while it doubtless contributed not a little
to strengthen the interest that he felt, as his
correspondence shows, in the exiles for con-
science' sake who sought a home in the province
durinor his lone administration.

For several years after Governor Stuyvesant's
arrival, the ships of the Dutch West India Com-
pany continued to bring over to New Amsterdam
small bodies of French colonists, who had prob-
ably found a temporary home in Holland. The
greater number of these emigrants came from

ARRIVALS FROM FRANCE. 179

the northern provinces of France. Isaac Bethio, chap.ii.
a native of Calais, in Picardy, arrived in 1652, 1647-
and gave his name to the island in the harbor 155.
of New York, known as Bedloe's Island. The
three brothers De la Granije, who came from
Amsterdam in 1656, were natives of Nor-
mandy. Of the same province was Jean Perie,
noted as the first trader that sent out a ship
from New Amsterdam with a carQ^o for Canada.
The first settlers of Bushwick, on Long Island —
Toussaint Briell, Francois Grion la Capelle,
Jean Casjou, Claude Barbier, and Antoine
Jeroe, arrived about the same time, and origin-
ated probably in the same part of France.

But a fresh outbreak of religious persecution
was now at hand in France, the consequences of
which would soon be seen in a much more con-
siderable emigration to America. During the
early years of the reign of Louis XIV., the
Protestants of France had enjoyed comparative
tranquillity. In the political troubles that in- 1648.
troduced that reign, they had given such proof
of their loyalty to the crown as to call forth the
thanks of the young king and his minister. Car-
dinal Mazarin. In recognition of these services,
Louis had confirmed the Edict of Nantes, and
all other edicts and regulations in favor of his
subjects of the Reformed religion. Various in-
fractions of those laws, which had been per-
mitted to occur, were redressed ; places of wor-
ship were re-opened ; Protestants were admitted
to public offices from which they had been ex-
cluded ; religious liberty prevailed to a greater

l8o NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. n. degree than at any time since the reign of Henry
1647- IV. But the tolerant course adopted by the
1664 government was watched with growing displeas-
ure by the clergy of the Church of Rome : and
soon the king, yielding to their persuasions, en-
Growth tered upon a reactionary course which was to
°^ culminate in the revocation of the Edict of

persecu-
tion. Nantes, and in the suppression of the Protestant

faith in France. One by one, the rights con-
ceded to the religionists were withdrawn.
Among the first of these repressive measures,
16, was a decree depriving pastors of the privilege
^^^^' of preaching in the annexes, or out-stations, con-
nected with their charges. Other decrees, rap-
idly succeeding, enjoined upon the Protestants
the observance of the fasts and feasts of the
1657, Roman Catholic Church ; prohibited the singing
1659. of psalms in private houses, in such a manner as to
be overheard in the streets ; and required Protest-
ants to kneel, like the Roman Catholics, when
the host was carried in public procession. The
clergy, encouraged by the attitude which the
government was now assuming toward the here-
tics, inflicted upon them various forms of perse-
cution not yet legalized. The sick and dying were
beset by the monks and priests with persuasions
and threats, to induce them to abjure their faith.
Children were enticed or carried off from their
homes, to be educated as Roman Catholics.
Judicial rights which had been secured to the
Protestants by the Edict of Nantes were with-
drawn. The complaints addressed to the court,
in view of these abuses, were coldly received or

CONDITION OF FRENCH PROTESTANTS. l8i

unheeded. At length the government proceeded ctap. ii.
to break up the ecclesiastical organization of the 1659.
French churches, by interdicting the Colloquies
and the national Synods, the last of which was
held in November, 1659.

The Protestants of France had erown in num-
bers and in wealth during the period of com-
parative repose that lasted through the early
years of the reign of Louis XIV. They no
longer formed a political party in the land, and
were now devoting themselves chiefly to enter-
prises of commerce and manufacture. At least
one-third of the tradesmen in the country were
of the Reformed religion. In every sea-port
there were to be found wealthy Protestant mer-
chants, who by their ability and integrity com-
manded the confidence even of the Roman Catho-
lics, and who were the trusted agents and cor-
respondents of foreign houses. Many important
branches of industry were controlled almost en-
tirely by Protestant artisans. Acquainting
themselves with the methods of business pur-
sued in Protestant England, Germany, and Hol-
land, they adopted very generally the system of
combined labor, which enabled them to secure
the best workmen, and to carry on extensive Emigra-
business enterprises. The northern provinces from the
of the kingdom possessed a large share of this pr°ovinces.
commercial and industrial wealth. The linen
manufactures of Picardy, Normandy, Maine,
and Bretagne, gave employment to thousands of
families in the villages of those provinces, and
enriched many a powerful commercial house,

1663.

1 82 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. like that of Crommelin, a branch of which at a
later clay came to New York.

The increasing harshness of the government
toward its Protestant subjects, at this period,
led many of them to remove from the kingdom.
As in the case of the earlier emigrations, the
greater number of these refuoees made their
way to Holland; and from Holland not a few,
between the years 1657 and 1663, crossed over
to America. For the most part, they were
natives of the northern provinces. Marc du
Soisson, Philippe Casier, Francois Dupuis, Da-
vid de Marest, Daniel Tourneur, Jean Mesurole,
Martin Renard, Pierre Pia, David Usilie, were
from Picardy. Jean le Conseiller, Robert de la
Main, Pierre Pra, Jean Levelin, Pierre de Marc,
were from Normandy. Arnout du Tois, of
Lisle, Jean le Clercq and Adrien Fournie, of
Valenciennes, Simon Drune, Bastien Clement,
and Adrien Vincent, of Tournay, Juste Kock-
uyt, of Bruges, Meynard Journeay, Jean Ger-
von, Walraven Luten, and Juste Houpleine, were
from Flanders. A few are mentioned as natives
of other parts of France. J^an Lequier and
Pierre Richard came from Paris ; and Jacques
Cousseau, Etienne Gaineau, Paul Richard, Jean
Guenon, and Etienne Genejo)^ came from La
Rochelle.

Other French colonists, whose places of birth
are not recorded, emigrated about this time to
New Amsterdam, by way of Holland. We
have the names of Charles Fonteyn, Simon
Bouche, Amadee Fougie, Jacques Reneau,

THE WALDENSES OF PIEDMONT. 183

Jacques Monier, Pierre Monier, Matthieu Sava- cuap. 11.

riau, Pierre Grissaut, Simon Cormie, Gedeon ^q^-,

Merlet, Louis Louhman, Jacques Cossart, Jean

Paul de Rues, Jacques de Beauvois, Francois

Bon, Louis Lackeman, Francois Rombouts, ^cc>a>4»iLi- J

Paul Turck, Alexandre Cochivier, lean Apre, ^ . ,'^

rrancois breteau, Claude Cnarie, Cjuillaume de l

^ y 1,1 lift i

Honeur, Jacob Kolver, Jean Couverts, Antoine f) ^
du Chaine, Laurent de Camp, Nicolas de la
Plaine, Jean de la Warde. Though the fact is
not expressly stated, it may be presumed that
the greater number of these immigrants, like
those previously named, originated in the prov-
inces of Picardy, Normandy, and Bretagne.

The spring of the year 1657 witnessed the ar-
rival of a band of colonists from the valleys of
Piedmont, a portion of the persecuted people
known as Waldenses, This ancient race, hidden
among the Cottian Alps, between Italy and
France,' had preserved, according to their own
traditions, the Christian faith in its simplicity
from a very early age. Unnoticed and unmolested
in their mountain retreats for twelve centuries,
it was not until these valleys came into the pos-
session of the dukes of Savoy, that efforts were
made to convert or exterminate them as heretics
in the eyes of the Church of Rome. Between
the year 1487 and the close of the seventeenth
century, the historians of the Waldenses count
thirty-three distinct crusades waged against this
innocent and unresisting people. One of the
most dreadful of these assaults occurred in April,
1655, when by the order of the duke of Savoy

184 NEW NETHERLAND.

chap^ii. an army of fifteen thousand men entered the
1655. valleys, and commenced a massacre, which for
April, horrors of cruelty is scarcely paralleled in the
history of civilized men. The sickening details
of this deed of blood, amply authenticated, were
published throughout Europe, and called forth in-
dignant remonstrances from all the Protestant
powers. Cromwell was foremost in stimulating
those powers to action, and hastened to offer the
Waldenses a home in Ireland ; while Milton, his
secretary for foreign tongues, wrote upon this oc-
casion his famous "Sonnet on the late massacre
in Piedmont."
The The States-General of Holland united in the

ac-enses ^^^^^ ^q arrest the course of persecution. They

Holland, ^^q offered the fugitive Waldenses a refuge.
Several hundreds came to the city of Amster-
dam, where they were well received and liberally
provided for. Just then the Dutch were con-
sidering a plan for the occupation and settlement
of the land on the South or Delaware river.
Excellent material for the projected colony pre-
sented itself in this body of exiles ; and it was
hoped that large numbers of their country-
men, when apprised of the opportunity, would
flock thither as to an asylum. In December,
1656, the directors wrote to Governor Stuyves-
ant, informing him that the colony would soon,
they hoped, receive an important accession,
" since according to all appearances many of the
exiled Waldenses would desire to eo " to New
Netherland in the following spring; and they in-
structed him to take immediate steps for the pur-

THE "PRINCE MAURICE."

185

chase of the land lying between the North river chap. 11.
and the South river, or Delaware, before this 1656.
could be done by any other nation, with a view
to the settlement of these people, whose pres-
ence would be an advantage to both parties,'

The embarkation took place earlier than the
time announced by the directors. On Christ- December

• 25

mas day, 1656, one hundred and sixty-seven
colonists sailed for New Amsterdam, in three
ships sent out by the West India Company, the
Prince Maurice, the Bear, and the Flower of
Guelder. They were accompanied by a school-
master, who was also authorized to act as a
" comforter of the sick," until the arrival of a
minister. "A storm separated the squadron:
and, after a long voyage, the Prince Maurice, jg^-
with most of the emigrants on board, struck March 8.
about midnight on the south coast of Lono-
Island, near Fire Island Inlet. The next morn-
ning, the crew and passengers escaped through
the ice to a barren shore, ' without weeds, grass,
or timber of any sort to make a fire.' The ship-
wrecked emigrants were visited before long by

Naer alle apparentie menichte van de Verdrevene Vau-
doisen (diedes gewaerschout sullen werden) hun daerwaerts
sullen comen te begeven. — New York Colonial Manuscripts,
vol. XIL, fol. 45, p. 8. That the persons thus designated
were VValdenses, and not Walloons, appears further from a
subsequent reference in the same correspondence, vol.
XV., fol. 12, p. 3. The directors wrote to Stuyvesant, April
16, 1663, correcting an impression which he liad received
that another body of " the oppressed inhabitants of Pied-
mont " had made request to be brought over to New Nether-
land. (Dat de verdruckte pimontoisen op nieuios aensocok
soude hebben gedaen omme nae nieuo nederlandt te mogen
werden getransporteert.)

1 86 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. some of the neighboring Indians, by \vhom they
1657. sent a letter to Stuyvesant, imploring help.
Yachts were immediately despatched from New
Amsterdam, and the director went in person to
the scene of the disaster. The emigrants, and
most of the cargo, were brought in safety to New
Amsterdam, where the other vessels had arrived
meanwhile."' A few weeks later, they proceeded
on their way to the South river. We shall not
at present follow the histor}/ of this Waldensian
colony, but will reserve for another volume the
account of the settlement in Delaware. It is not
unlikely that some of the colonists may have re-
mained in New x'\msterdam, instead of re-embark-
ing for the place of their original destination.
Certain it is, that in the course of the next few

^ ,' years, a number of Waldensian families came over

Waldenses -' 1 r 1 1 t 1 1 1

onstaten from Holland, several of whom established them-
selves on Staten Island. Pierre Martin, Gerard
Ive, and Juste Grand, arrived in August, 1662,
on the ship Fox; and Jerome Berie, Pierre lofi
Noue, and Pierre Parmentier — all from " Wals-
lant " — -arrived in April, 1663, on the Spotted
Cow. The imperfect lists of emigration that
we possess afford us no further particulars con-
cerning this interesting episode in the history
of New Netherland. But it is believed that
others of the first settlers of Staten Island, be-
sides those that have been named, were Wal-
denses.^ Such, we conjecture, may have been

' History of the State of New York, by John Romeyn
Brodhead, Vol. I., pp. 631, 632.

^ Brodhead, History of the State of New York, vol. I.,
p. 692.

LOUIS THE WALLOON. 187

the origin of the famiHes of Martinou, Cruch- Chap. 11.
eron, Poillion, Martiline, Gannepaine, Regrenier, li^o.
Casee, Perrin and Canon ; all of whom appear
at an early day in the history of that settlement.

Among- the Walloons that came to New Neth-
erland, in the last days of the Dutch occupation,
was Louis du Bois, founder of the Huguenot
settlement of New Paltz, in Ulster county, New
York.

Louis was the son of Chretien du Bois, an in-
habitant of Wicres, a hamlet in the district of
La Barree, near Lille, in Flanders, where he was
born on the twenty-seventh day of October, in
the year 1627. The province of Flanders was at
that time a dependency of Spain ; and when,
twenty years later, the rights of conscience were i648,
secured by the treaty of Westphalia to the October
Protestants of Germany, the benefits of that i*-
treaty did not extend to the Spanish dominions.
It was perhaps on this account, and in quest of
religious freedom, that Louis left his native
province, in early manhood, and removed, as
numbers of his countrymen were doing, to the
lower Palatinate. This Calvinistic state, which
had taken the lead among the Protestant powers
of Germany, from the outbreak of the Thirty
Years' War, now offered a refuge to the op-
pressed Huguenots, and to the Waldenses, driven
from their Alpine valleys by the fierce soldiery
of Savoy. Long before this, indeed, a little leoi.
colony of Walloons, flying before the troops of
Alva, had come to settle within the hospitable
territory of the Palatinate, at Frankenthal, only

168 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. n. a few miles from Mannheim, its capital. Mann-
1601. heim itself now became the home of many
French refugees, and among them we recognize
several families that afterwards removed to Amer-
ica. Here David de Marest, Frederic de Vaux,
Abraham Hasbroucq, Chretien Duyou, Mathese
Blanchan, Meynard Journeay, Thonnet Terrin,
Pierre Parmentier, Antoine Crispel, David Usilie,
Philippe Casier, Bourgeon Broucard, Simon Le
Febre, Juste Durie, and others, enjoyed for
several years the kindness of their German co-
religionists and the protection of the good
1655, Elector Palatine. Hither Louis du Bois came,
"^lo.^ and here, on the tenth day of October, 1655, he
married Catharine, daughter of Mathese Blan-
chan, who, like himself, was from French
Flanders. Two sons, Abraham and Isaac, were
born of this marriage in Mannheim.
Th3 The refugees found much, doubtless, to bind

\te!^' them to the country of their adoption. They
were encouraged in the free exercise of their
religion. The people and their prince were
Calvinists, like themselves. Openings for em-
ployment, if not for enrichment in trade, were
afforded in the prosperous city, where, a century
later, Huguenot merchants and manufacturers
were enabled to amass laro-e fortunes. How
pleasantly and fondly they remembered the
goodly Rhine-land, in after days, we may gather
from the fact that the emigrants to America
named their home in the wilderness, not from
their native province in France, but from the
place of their refuge in Germany, calling it

THE NEW PALATINATE. 189

"The New Palatinate." In spite, however, of chap. 11.
all inducements to remain, Louis du Bois and 1660.
certain of his fellow-refugees determined to re-
move to the New World ; influenced, it may be,
by a feeling of insecurity in a country lying
upon the border of France, and liable to foreign
invasion at any moment.

The Dutch ship Gilded Otter, in the spring
of the year 1660, brought over several of these
families. Others followed, in the course of the
same year. The little town of New Amsterdam, Arrival
nestled upon the lower end of Manhattan island, ^^^^^
presented a curious appearance to the strangers. dam.
Inclosed v/ithin the limits of Wall street and
Broadway, " two hundred poorly-constructed
houses gave partial comfort to some fourteen
hundred people. The fort loomed up broadly
in front, partially hiding within it the governor's
residence, and the Dutch church. The flag of
the States-General, and a wind-mill on the west-
ern bastion, were notable indications of Holland

1 "
rule.

Our colonists did not linger long in New
Amsterdam. Taking counsel doubtless of their
Walloon countrymen, and obtaining permis-
sion from the governor and his council, they
soon decided upon a place of settlement : and
by the end of the year, Matthew Blanchan and
Anthony Crispel, with their families, had estab-
lished themselves in Esopus ; where, before the
following October, thev were joined by Louis
du Bois and his wife and sons.

The country lying south of the Catskill mount-

igo NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. ains, and north of the Highlands, on the west
1660. side of the North or Hudson river, was known
to the Dutch from the earhest times as Esopus,
Thither, even before the settlement of New
Amsterdam, the Dutch traders went to traffic
with the friendly Indians; and here, in 1623,
the ship New Netherland, after landing some
of her passengers on Manhattan island,
stopped on her way up the river, to lighten her
cargo. This picturesque region — now in-
cluded within the bounds of Ulster county
— lay midway between the two rising towns
of New Amsterdam and Beverwyck. Broken
by mountain ranges, the Catskills in the
north, and the Shawungunk in the south ;
watered by numerous streams, and extensively
improved by the rude husbandry of its savage
occupants, the pleasant land must have attracted
the loncrino- view of the Dutch immiirrants as
they sailed up the Hudson to the patroon's col-
ony at Fort Orange. But though a Dutch fort
was built here — at Rondout, now a part of
Kingston — as early as the year 16 14, it does not
appear that any settlement was effected before
the year 1652. Thomas Chambers, an English-
man by birth, was the first purchaser and pat-
entee of Esopus. He had been engaged with
several others in an attempt to obtain lands near
the site of the present city of Troy ; but being
dispossessed by the patroon, whose patent cov-
ered the locality chosen for their settlement, the
associates removed to this region, and bought
from the Indians a tract of land, comprising sev-

INDIAN DEPREDATIONS. 191

enty-six acres, on Esopus creek, where the city Chap. 11.
of Kingston now stands. But in 1655 the Indian j^r
tribes along the Hudson river joined in attacking
the Dutch settlements ; and in the consternation
that prevailed, the farmers at Esopus fied, leav-
ing their homes and fields to the depredation of
the savages. On the conclusion of peace, in the
autumn of the same year, they returned. Neg- •
lecting, however, to form a village, suitably
protected by stockades and by a fort or block-
house, as they were urged by the government
to do, the settlers were again disturbed in 1658,
and implored the Director Stuyvesant to come
to their relief. By his advice they now laid out
a town-spot, the site of Wiltwyck, the future
city of Kingston. The colonists, sixty or seventy
in number, went to work with a will, under the
personal supervision of the determined gov-
ernor ; and in less than three weeks, the place
that he had chosen for the villasfe was sur-
rounded with palisades, a guard-house was built,
and the dwellings of the settlers were moved
into the space inclosed. Pleased at his own
success, and delighted with the beautiful land of
the Esopus, the director sailed back to New
Amsterdam, " praising the Lord for His mercy
on all concerned," and cautioning the Indian
chiefs to leave the white men alone, inasmuch
as "he could come again as easily as he went."

Wiltwyck, however, did not long enjoy repose The
under shelter of its new defenses. Another ^^
outbreak of Indian ferocity — stimulated by the
white man's " fire-water," and provoked by the

19^ NEW NEFHERLAND.

Chap. II. brutality of some of the Dutch themselves — oc-

1659. currecl in the following year, when a band of
September several hundred Indian warriors invested the

^- little town for three weeks. Again Director Stuy-
vesant came to the rescue. Partly by force of
arms, and partly through the mediation of other
Indian tribes, he succeeded in bringing the sav-

1660. ages to terms ; and on the fifteenth day of July,
July 15. 1660, peace was concluded.

It was at this juncture that Louis du Bois
and his companions arrived in New Amsterdam.
The great " Esopus war," which, for many
months past, had convulsed all the settlements,
from Long Island to Fort Orange, with fear, was
now over. The prospects of the little colony
at Wiltwyck were brightening ; and the beauti-
ful region wdiich Governor Stuyvesant had
found so fruitful, and "capable of making yet
fifty farms," was open to the new immigrants.
Lands in the rich valleys of the Rondout and
the Esopus were to be had for the asking.
Provision was made for the religious instruc-
Dominie tion of the colonists. Hermanns Blom, a cler-
gyman of the Reformed Church of Molland,
sent over expressly to minister at Esopus, had
been, for several weeks, awaiting in New Am-
sterdam the result of the negotiations for peace.
These, not improbably, were the' considera-
tions that led our Walloons to fix upon Esopus
as their future home. Early in the autumn of
the year 1660, they took their departure from
New Amsterdam. The Company's yacht, which
carried Dominie Blom to the place of his labors,

WILTWYCK. 193

may have had on board some of their number, chap. n.
Certain it is, that among the persons admitted 1660.
to the Lord's Supper, upon the occasion of its
first celebration in Esopus, on the seventh day
of December in that year, were Matthew Blan-
chan, with Madeleine Jorisse, his wife, and
Anthony Crispel, with Maria Blanchan, his
wife.

The spot where, after many wanderings, our
refugees at length had found a home, was hap-
pily chosen. It lay but a short distance from
that noble river, whose majestic course and
varied scenery must have vividly recalled to
them the Rhine. The plateau upon which the
village of Wiltwyck stood was skirted by Eso-
pus creek. From the banks along which the
palisades protecting it had been constructed, the
settlers overlooked the fertile lands occupied by
the farms of the white men, and by the patches
upon which the Indian women still raised their
crops of maize and beans. The beautiful valley
of the Wallkill opened toward the southwest.
On the north, the wooded slopes of the Catskill
mountains were visible.

Blanchan and Crispel were soon joined at
Wiltwyck by Louis du Bois, and shortly after
by a fourth Walloon family, that of Rachel de
la Montagne, daughter of Jean de la Montagne
of New Amsterdam, and now wife of Gysbert
Imborch. Meantime, another settlement had 1662.
been commenced in the Esopus country. The
"New Village," afterwards known as Hurley,
was founded about a mile to the west of Wilt-

194 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. wyck. Taught by experience, the settlers took

1662. pains to protect their homes against the attacks
of the savaofes. The houses and barns were
built within a fortified inclosure, where fifteen
families formed a compact community. Blan-
chan and his two sons-in-law were among those
who removed from Wiltwyck to the New Vil-
lage. A summer passed by, and the colonists re-
mained undisturbed. They were, however, by no
means safe from molestation. Stuyvesant's se-
verity in sending some of his Indian prisoners,
at the close of the Esopus war, to the island of

The new Curagoa, had left a lasting impression of resent-
ment in the minds of the savaofes. The build-
ing of the " New Village," upon land to which
they still laid claim, was an additional grievance.
Underrating either the courage or the strength
of their wild neighbors, the settlers took no suit-
able precautions against attack, but on the con-
trary, with strange infatuation, sold to them
freely the rum that took away their reason
and intensified their worst passions. The time
came for an uprising. Stuyvesant had sent
word to the Indian chiefs, throusfh the maofis-
trates of Wiltwyck, that he would shortly visit

1663. them, to make them presents, and to renew the
Junes, peace concluded the year before. The message

was received with professions of friendliness.
Two days after, about noon, on the seventh of

June?. -^ .

J une, a concerted attack was made by parties 01
Indians upon both the settlements. The destruc-
tion of the " New Village" was complete. Every
dwelling was burned. The greater number of

ATTACK ON THE SETTLEMENTS. 195

the adult inhabitants had gone forth that day as chap. 11.
usual to their field work upon the outlying ,663
farms, leaving some of the women, with the
little children, at home. Three of the men, who
had doubtless returned to protect them, were
killed ; and eight women, with twenty-six chil-
dren, were taken prisoners. Among these were
the families of our Walloons : the wife and three
children of Louis du Bois, the two children of
Matthew Blanchan, and Anthony Crispel's wife
and child. The rest of the people, those at
work in the fields, and those who could escape
"from the village, fled to the neighboring woods,
and in the course of the afternoon made their
way to Wiltwyck, or to the redoubt at the mouth
of Esopus creek.

Meanwhile, the attack at Wiltwyck had been
less successful. Parties of Indians had entered
the village in the morning, carrying maize and
beans to sell, and under this pretense, had dis-
tributed themselves in the different houses ;
when suddenly a number of men on horseback
came dashing through the mill-gate, shouting,
" The Indians have destroyed the New Village !"
At once, the savages already within the place be-
gan their work of havoc. Twelve houses were
burned, and but for a timely change of wind the Brave

1 1111 1 defense of

entire settlement would have been consumed, wiltwyck.
Some of the Indians, seizing the women and
children, hastened away with them into the for-
est : whilst others, stationed near the gates, des-
patched those of the men who attempted to
enter the town. As at the New Village, most

196 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. of the inhabitants were away, at their employ-
1663. nients in the neighboring fields. A few brave
men, however, chanced to be at home. These,
though without guns or side arms, soon ralHed,
and resolutely facing the assailants, succeeded
in driving them out. By nightfall, Dominie
Blom and his companions were joined by the
people from the farms, and by straggling fugi-
tives from the New Village. No time could be
spent in lamentation over their losses. The
palisades surrounding the place had been de-
stroyed by the fire. All night long the colonists
toiled to replace them, or kept watch along the
exposed borders. Day dawned upon a scene
of woe and desolation. Seventy of the inhabi-
tants were missing. Of these, twenty-four had
been ruthlessly murdered ; while forty-five,
women and children, had been hurried away into
captivity. The sight of the burned and mu-
tilated bodies, lying amid the ruins of the dwell-
ings and in the streets, was scarcely more aft'ect-
ing than the thought of the living, in the hands
of the merciless savages. Among these were
Rachel de la Montague, and the wife and child
of Dominie Blom.
consterna- The tidings of this disaster spread consterna-
*'at° tion throughout the Dutch settlements. Director
Amster- Stuyvesaut, always energetic, and ready for
dam. severe measures, was the more disposed to act
promptly and resolutely in the present case, be-
cause of the loss incurred by his trusty council-
or in the capture of his daughter. With some
difficulty, a force was raised for the defense of

THE ESOPUS INDIANS PURSUED. 197

Wiltwyck, and for the rescue of the prisoners in chap. 11.
the hands of the Esopus Indians. Nearly a 1663.
month elapsed, however, before two sloops, carry-
ing supplies to the destitute inhabitants, and hav-
ing on board a company of Dutch and English
soldiers, and of friendly Indian braves, entered
Esopus creek. They were joined at Wiltwyck
by a band of five Mohawks, sent down from
Fort Orange, for the purpose of endeavoring to
secure the release of the captives through medi-
ation. In the meantime, Rachel de la Montagne
had made her escape from the savages, and was
ready to conduct the rescuing party to the Indian
fort, thirty miles to the south-west of Wiltwyck,
whither the prisoners had been conveyed. The juiy
expedition set forth, under the command of the
fearless Captain Krygier, on the twenty-sixth
of July, and on the next day reached the fort,
but found it deserted. The Indians had retreated
with their captives to a more distant fastness in the
Shawungunk mountains. Krygier pursued them,
but without success, and after setting fire to the
fort, and destroying large quantities of corn
which they found stored away in pits, or grow-
ing in the fields, the party returned to Wiltwyck
without the loss of a man. Another month August
passed before a second attempt could be made.
Information came through friendly savages that
the Esopus Indians were building another fort.
So soon as the weather permitted, and a supply
of horses could be obtained, Krygier set forth September
again. This time, the enemy was taken by sur-
prise. A fierce combat ensued ; many of the

rescue.

198 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. savages were taken, and twenty-three of the
1663. captives were recovered, and brought back in
triumph to the settlement. Their absence had
lasted just three months. Tradition represents
the pious Walloons as cheering the tedious
hours of their bondage with Marot's psalms.
When rescued by their friends, just as the
savages were about to slaughter them, they were
The entertaining their captors, and obtaining a mo-
mentary reprieve, by singing the one hundred
and thirty-seventh psalm : " By the rivers of
Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when
we remembered Zion. . . For there they that
carried us away captive required of us a song."'

The worthy Dutch pastor of Wiltwyck gives
a touching account of the grief and anxiety that
reigned in the desolate homes from which the
captives had been taken. Every evening the
little congregation gathered, on the four points
of the fort, under the blue sky, and offered up
their fervent prayers.

To Louis du Bois, whose entire family were

' The words were those of Marot's version :

" Estans assis aux rives aquatiques
De Babylon, plorions melancholiques,
Nous souvenans du pays de Sion,
Et au milieu de I'habitation,
Oil de regrets tant de pleurs espandismes,
Aux saules verds nos harpes nous pendismes.

Lors ceux qui la captifs nous emmenerent,
De les sonner fort nous importunerent,
Et de Sion les chansons reciter
Las ! dismes-nous, qui pourroit inciter
Nos tristes coeurs a chanter la louange
De nostre Dieu en une terre estrange?"

SECURITY OF THE SETTLEMENT. 199

in the hands of the savages, this season of sus- chap. 11.
pense must have been peculiarly trying. Tradi- 1663.
tion states that he was one of the foremost mem-
bers of the rescuing party. An instance of his
vigor and presence of mind, given by Captain
Krygier in his journal after the return of the
expedition, may lead us to credit this statement.
" Louis, the Walloon, went to-day to fetch his
oxen, which had gone back of Juriaen West-
phaelen's land. As he was about to drive home
the oxen, three Indians, who lay in the bush and
intended to seize him, leaped forth. When one
of these shot at him with an arrow, but only
slightly wounded him, Louis, having a piece of a
palisade in his hand, struck the Indian on the
breast with it so that he staes^ered back, and
Louis escaped through the kill, and came thence,
and brought the news into the fort."

These troubles over, the settlement enjoyed
security from savage molestation. The Esopus
tribe, in the course of the contest with the white
man, was almost exterminated. The Walloons
were free to extend their plantations further into
the rich lands that were now without an owner.
Some years later, Louis du Bois, with several
associates, removed from Wiltwyck to a spot
which they had discovered during their pursuit
of the Indians. Here, in the beautiful Wallkill
valley, they built their homes, near the base of
the Shawungunk mountains. The settlers had
not forgotten the Rhine, and the days of their
exile in Mannheim, and they named their village
"le nouveau Palatinat," or New Paltz.

200 NEW NETHERLAND.

Chap. II. But meanwhile, New Netherland had become
1664. 3-11 English possession. On the sixth day of
September September, in the year 1664, articles of capitula-
^' tion were signed, by commissioners representing
the States-General of Holland and the kine of
England : and the Dutch city and province re-
ceived the name of the city and province of New
York.

David Provost, the founder of an important family of
New Amsterdam and New York, arrived from Holland as
early as the year 1639. He is said to have been the de-
scendant of one Guillaume Provost, a Huguenot, who was a
resident of Paris at the time of the massacre of St. Bartholo-
mew's day, and who succeeded in escaping to Holland.
(The New York Geneaological and Biographical Record.
Vol. VI., pp. 1-24.)

The family of De Peyster, originating, it is believed, in
France, was likewise driven from that country, according to
tradition, at the time of the massacre, and took refuge in
Holland. Johannes de Peyster, born in Haarlem early in
the seventeenth century, came to America, and about the
year 1652, established himself in New Amsterdam, where he
became a leading merchant. He died previous to the year
1686, leaving four sons, the eldest of whom. Colonel Abra-
ham de Peyster, took a distinguished part in public affairs.
(Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York for
1861. Pp. 556-576.)

It is possible that Rouen, in Normandy, may have been
the birthplace of this family. Two facts would indicate
this, (i.) A sister of the refugee who fled to Holland, "re-
turned to settle at Rouen, where, in the succeeding cen-
tury, she lived a widow, in the possession of an ample
fortune." (Manual, etc., p. 556.) (2.) In a " memoire " of
persons conspicuous in the town of Rouen, in 1689, for their
zeal in behalf of their religion, I find the name of " Le sieur
Depeister, Hollandois, depuis longtemps establi a Rouen.
C'est un marchand naturalise." (Le protestantisme in Nor-
mandie, par M. Francis Waddington. P. 25.) Perhaps a
descendant of the refugee, this merchant may have gone
back, like the sister mentioned above, to the ancient home.

^bTCeUSTATIUS

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LEEWARD

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\ 111 ^T CHRISTOPHER

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ISLAND

JHEViS 1.

Cbailestowr^^/ /

MONTSERRAT 1.

Ci, c;^

Lm GRmNDE TERRE I.

" ^„ DESIRADE I.

.ES DES SAINT ES

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D W A R D

LANDS

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1 PART OF THE i

LESSER ANTILLES

SCALE OF MILES

Xongitude "West 62

from Greenwich Bl

CHAPTER III.

The Antilles.

1625-1686.

Early in the seventeenth century, the archi- ciiap. m.
pelago that Hes between the two American j^^.
continents became the resort of French com-
merce : and here, particularly in the islands of
St. Christopher, Guadeloupe and Martinique,
the Protestants of France found a comparatively
safe retreat during the fifty years preceding the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. This fact,
singularly enough, has escaped the attention of
the writers who have traced the wanderings of
the Huguenot exiles.' Yet we shall see that it
has had an important bearing upon the history
of their emiofration to North America.

' The invaluable work of M. Charles Weiss (Histoire des
Refugies Protestants Frangais) contains no allusion to this
emigration, nor to the subsequent deportation of French
Protestants to the Antilles.

For a clue to this episode in the history of the Refuge, I
am indebted to a casual mention, made in the correspond-
ence of the Marquis de Denonville, governor of Canada, 16
Nov., 1686, with the Ministry of the Colonies, of the ar-
rival of fifty or sixty Huguenots at Manat [New York] from
the islands of St. Christopher and Martinique. (Documents
relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York.
Vol. IX., p. 309.)

202 THE ANTILLES.

Chap. III. French geographers limit the name Antilles''
1675. to the Caribbean Islands, or the group that
stretches in a curved line between the Greater
Antilles and the coast of South America, form-
ing the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea.
These islands, twenty-eight in number, had been

Caribbean P^ssed by as insignificant, since their discovery
Islands, ^y Columbus in the year 1493. But in 1625,
two navigators, landing on the same day upon
opposite sides of the island of St. Christopher,
took possession in the name of their respective
sovereigns, the kings of France and England.
Both nations had the same objects in view.
These were to secure safe anchorage and con-
venient victualing stations for their merchant
ships engaged in the South American trade, and
to strengthen themselves against their common
enemy, the Spaniard. No time was lost by either
commander in carrying out this design. A com-
pany was organized in each country, under a
royal grant, with privileges and powers for the
occupying and settling of St. Christopher, as
well as of the neighboring islands.^

1 Histoire naturelle et morale des lies Antilles de 1' Amer-
ique. A Roterdam, M. DC. LVIIL [By Charles de Roche-
fort.] P. I.— De Rochefort considers that the islands are
so named, "parce qu'elles sont comme une barriere au de-
vant des grandes lies."

Manuel de la Navigation dans laMer des Antilles et dans
le Golfe du Mexique, par Ch. Ph. de Kerhallet. Paris, 1853,
L19.

"" Histoire nat. et mor. des lies Antilles, pp. 268, 269.^—
The History, civil and commercial, of the British Colonies
in the West Indies. By Bryan Edwards, Esq. — London,
M. DCC. XCIII. Vol. I., p. 422.

ST. CHRISTOPHER. 203

The lesser Antilles, like the greater, are of chap. iii.
volcanic origin, and present similar features of j^.
beauty and grandeur, in their rich tropical vege-
tation, and in their bold outlines of bluff and
mountain. St. Christopher, though not the
laro^est of the French islands, was first in im-
portance among them, as the place of earliest
settlement, and for a long time the seat of the
colonial government. Its highest peak. Mount Mount
Misery, rises nearly four thousand feet above the ^^^^^'
level of the sea, and is visible at a distance of
fifty miles. The island is twenty-one miles long,
with an averaoe breadth of five miles for about
two-thirds of its length. The remaining part is
less than a mile wide, except at the extreme
south-east, where it expands to a breadth of
about three miles. A Huguenot pastor gives a
pleasing description of the island, as he saw it
about the middle of the seventeenth century.
The interior, he tells us, is occupied by a range
of mountains, intersected with rocky precipices
almost impassable, and abounding in hot springs.
At the base of these mountains, the land slopes
gently down to the coast, here and there broken
by spurs or ridges that stretch out to the sea.
The grounds under cultivation, reaching up to
the steeper acclivities, are for the most part dis-
posed in natural terraces, one above another.
Upon these terraces, the gardens and fields of
the plantations are seen, the pale green of the
tobacco plant contrasting with the yellow sugar
cane, and the dark green leaves of the ginger
and the sweet potato. Amid these terraced

204

THE ANTILLES.

Basse-
terre.

Chap. III. plantations, the houses of the planters appear,
1658. built generally of wood, and roofed with red
tiles, and completing the picture which to the
enthusiastic Frenchman seemed one of rare
beauty. On the south-western shore of the
island, near the shipping, stood the pleasant lit-
tle town of Basse-terre, the residence of the
merchants and other leading inhabitants.

From the first, these islands extended a wel-
come to the Protestant colonist. No religious
qualification was imposed upon the settlers. The

October commission given in 1626 by Cardinal Richelieu
to the leaders of the enterprise, required them
" to instruct the inhabitants of those islands in the
Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Religion, and to
plant the Christian Faith among them," but
omitted any reference to their own reliorious

February, belief.' Twelve years later, in renewing the
Company's charter, the government stipulated
that none but persons professing the Roman
Catholic religion should be sent over as colon-
ists. If by mistake any of a different faith
should come, they were to be sent back imme-
diately upon the discovery of the fact.^ But the

13,
1626.

12,
1635.

' Commission donnee par le cardinal de Richelieu aux
sieurs d' Enambuc et de Rossey, pour etablir une Colonic
dans les Antilles de 1' Amerique. Du 31 octobre, 1626.
(Loix et Constitutions des Colonies Francoises de 1' Ameri-
que sous le Vent. Paris. [Without year of publication.
Approbation dated 1784.] Tome L, pp. 20-22.)

^ Contrat de Retablissement de la Compagnie des Isles de
r Amerique. Du 12 Fevrier, 1635. (Loix et Constitutions,
etc., vol. I., pp. 29-33.) " lis ne feront passer esdites Isles,
Colonies et Habitations, auciin qui ne soit naturel Fran-

EARLY TOLERATION. 205

order remained unobserved. The interests of Chap. ni.
trade and of colonization forbade any such dis- 16^5-
crimination. " At all times," complained a friar j^g-
of St, Francis, a missionary to the Antilles, " the
governors here have suffered heretics." '

The period of toleration continued for half a
century. Meanwhile, the Protestants came to
be very numerous and very wealthy, exceeding,
indeed, the Roman Catholic population in in-
fluence, if not in numbers.^ They were not
allowed the public exercise of their religion.
But throughout the French islands, meetings
were held statedly for worship in private houses,
with the tacit permission of the governors. Prot-
estant pastors administered the rite of baptism,
and performed marriages under government

gois et ne fasse profession de la Religion Catholique, Apos-
tolique, et Romaine ; et si quelqu' un d' autre condition y
passoit par surprise, on 1' en fera sortir aussi-tot qu'il sera
venu a la connoissance de celui qui commandera dans la
dite Isle."

' Histoire Generale des Antilles habitees par les Francois.
Par le R. P. du Tertre, de 1' Ordre des F.F. Prescheurs de
la Congregation de S. Louis, Missionnaire Apostolique dans
les Antilles. Paris, MDCLXVII. Vols. L— IV. "Bienque
suivant les pieuses intentions du feu Roy Louis XIII. de
triomphante memoire, qui permit 1' Etablissement des Colo-
nies Francoises dans 1' Amerique, il n'y deust passer per-
sonne qui ne fist profession de la Religion Catholique,
Apostolique et Romaine. . . . Neantmoins les Gouverneurs
y ont souffert de tout [temps] des Heretiques." Vol. II.,
pp. 421, 422. " L' on permet indifferemment a toutessortes
de personnes de quelque Religion qu'elles soient, de s'^tab-
lir dans les Isles en qualite d' Habitans." Vol. III., p. 312.

' " Dans toutes les Isles il y a un tres-g'-and nombre de gens
de la Religion plus puissans en fond de terre et en Esclaves,
que les Catholiques Remains." — (Du Tertre, Hist. G^n.
des Antilles, etc , Vol. III., p. 312.)

206 THE ANTILLES.

Chap. Ill, sanction.' On board the Company's ships, the
1650. greater number of which were commanded by
Huguenot masters, the Reformed service was
celebrated with all publicity, both in port and at
sea. Calvin's prayers were said in the forecastle,
and Marot's psalms were sung, the loud voices
of the sailors drowning the chant of the priest,
as he said mass in another part of the ship, for
the Roman Catholic portion of the crew. In
some of the French islands, there were Hugue-
not congregations, duly organized, though with-
out " temples" or houses of worship. The gov-
ernor and council of Massachusetts received cer-
tificates in 1680 from "the French Protestant
Church at St. Christopher's," attesting the char-
acter of two of its members.^ These congrega-
tions were supplied with pastors by the Synod

' " Ces Messieurs de la Religion commencent d' exercer
presque leur fausse religion, puis qu' ils font des mariages
autorizes par quelques Gouverneurs, qu' ils baptisent leurs
enfans dans leurs maisons .... qu' ils s' assemblent tous
les Dimanches dans quelques maisons pour y faire leurs
prieres et autres exercises ; que dans les navires de la Com-
pagnie, ils chantent a haute voix leurs Pseaumes, ce qui ne
leur est pas permis dans les vaisseaux du Roy, et ils estouff-
ent la voix du Prestre qui dit la Messe, et interrompent les
prieres des Catholiques." — (Du Tertre, Hist. Gen. des An-
tilles, etc., HL, 312.)

' " Certificates from the ffrench Protestant Church att S*.
Christopher's on the behalfe of ^r. Poncet Stell called the
Larier and Frances Guichard, two French Gentlemen, that
they have renounced the Romish Religion in which they
were born and bred, and have Lnbraced the true faith and
nrotestant Religion." — (Orders, Warrants, etc., XXXH.,
p. 16 ; in Office of Secretary of State, Albany, N. Y.) As
these men had in 1680 been for some time residents here,
the date of the certificates may have been earlier by several
years.

CHURCHES IN ST. CHRISTOPHER. 207

of the Walloon Churches of Holland." But chap. in.
when destitute of such ministrations, the Hugue- 16^0
not islander could readily obtain the benefits of
religious instruction and consolation, by visitintr
the neighboring islands of the Dutch and En-
glish.^ The English quarter of St. Christo-
pher was well provided with churches. At St.
Eustatius, the Dutch pastor preached in French

' Charles de Rochefort, the presumed author of the
" Histoire Naturelle et Morale des lies Antilles " already
cited, was at the time of its publication pastor of the Wal-
loon church in Rotterdam. In 1650, he is named as "ci-
devant Ministre du St. Evangile en Amerique." — (Signatures
des Pasteurs, etc.; Confession de Foy des Eglises Reformees
des Pais-bas. Leyden, 1769.) From various indications
it would seem probable that the author of the " Histoire"
had exercised his ministry in the islands of Martinique and
St. Christopher.

* " The English have built as many as five handsome
churches in this island [St. Christopher]. The first, which
is met upon leaving the French quarter, is at the pointe des
Palmistes. The second stands near the great bay \la grande
rade), below the Governor's residence. The third is at the
pointe de Sable, and the other two are in the quarter of
Ca5fonne, The first three are structures of pleasing appear-
ance, after the fashion of the country ; the interior being
adorned with fine pulpits and chairs of valuable kinds of
wood. The clergymen who perform Divine Service were
formerly sent hitlier by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
whose vicar was Doctor Fiatley, chaplain to the late King of
England, and pastor of the church at \.\\t pointe des Palmistes.
But at present [1658] they receive their ordination from the
Synods, which possess the episcopal authority." — (De Roche-
fort, Hist. Nat. et Morale des lies Antilles, etc., p. 40.)

Besides these five churches, there were three on the
island of Nevis, which is separated from St. Christopher by
a channel only two miles in width. — (Ibid. p. 29.)

The facilities which the French Protestant inhabitants of
St. Christopher enjoyed for attending these English services
— " d'aller au preche chez les Anglois" — are noticed in a
government order in 1686. See below.

2o8 THE ANTILLES.

Chap. III. "for the edification of the French inhabitants,"
1650. as well as in Flemish.' On the island of St.
Martin, which was occupied by both nationalities,
a Walloon minister officiated in both tongues.^
And on the island of Tobago, then belonging to
the United Provinces, a French church existed
in the year 1660.^

The virtues of the Huguenots received, in
these distant colonies of France, the same
recognition as in the mother country. " Who-

Protestant soever knows the merchants of the Pretended
Reformed Religion," writes a historian of the
Antilles, " knows that commerce has no better
and more faithful agents." ■* A large proportion
of the Company's employes, as well as many of
the most prosperous merchants in the islands,
were Protestants.^ The zealous missionary who

' De Rochefort, Hist, des lies Antilles, etc., p. 42. — M. de
Graaf, "at present pastor of the church of Trevers, in the
island of Walcheren," was succeeded by M. de Mey, " a
celebrated preacher of the church of Middelburg."

^ " The French and the Dutch have their particular
churches, in the quarters of which they have jurisdiction.
M. des Camps, who is at present pastor of the Dutch church,
was sent out in this capacity in September, 1655, by the
Synod of the Walloon Cluirches of the United Provinces,
which has tliis colony under its spiritual care." — (De Roche-
fort, Hist, des lies Antilles, etc., p. 44.)

' " F. Chaillon, Pasteur de I'Eglise de Tabago," signed
the Articles of the Synod of Dort in 1660. — (Confession de
Foy des Egl. Ref. des Pais-bas.)

* Histoire G^nerale des Antilles, par M. Adrien Dessalles.
Paris : 1847. In five volumes. T. III., p. 215.

^ " lis sont ^levez aux Charges publiques, tant de la milice,
que du n^goce ; ce sont eux qui commandent les deux tiers
vaisseaux dela Compagnie, et ont en leurs mains les meil-
leurs commissions pour la distribution des marchandises."
— (Da Tertre, Hist. Gen. des Antilles, etc., vol. III., p. 312.)

PROTESTANT MERCHANTS. 209

reports these facts, explains them with remark- Chap, iii,
able ingenuity. " These gentlemen of the Com- 1667.
pany," says he, " have no other end in view than
traffic and gain. Hence they seek for such only
as they esteem best fitted to carry their enter-
prise to a successful issue. And since all our
sea-ports teem with Huguenot captains, pilots,
and merchants, whose souls are wholly buried in
trade and navigation, and who consequently be-
come more skilled in these matters than the
Catholics, it is not to be wondered at that they
should make use of this sort of people to fill the
places at their disposal." '

It was among these islands of the French
West Indies-, that many of the Huguenot fami-
lies that came at a later day to Massachusetts,

' " Comme tons nos ports de nier sont remplis de Capi-
taines, de Pilotes, et de Marchands huguenots qui ayant
I'ame toute ensevelie dans la navigation et dans le negoce,
s'y rendent plus parfait que les Catholiques ; ils ne se faut
pas estonner s'ils se sont servi des ces sortes de gens, pour
remplir les charges et les commissions qu'ils avoient a
donner." — (Du Tertre, Hist. Gen. des Antilles, etc., HI., p.
3^6.)

* Some French Protestants went to the islands of other
nationalities. A Count Crequi — according to the tradition
of the Markoe family — left France with a number of fol-
lowers, shortly before the Revocation, and sailed for the
West Indies. Several of the vessels that carried them
were destroyed by a hurricane ; but two, on board of
which were Crequi himself and his friend Marcou — said
to have been a native of Montbeliard, in Franche-Comte
— finally reached Santa Cruz, where, with their fellow-
passengers, they settled, and became subjects of Denmark.
They had large plantations, and lived as a distinct com-
munity, intermarrying for several generations. About the
middle of the last century, Abraham Marcou came to Phila-
delphia, and established himself in that city. He took a

2IO THE ANTILLES.

Chap. III. New York, and South Carolina, found homes,
1667. before the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
The greater number of them resided upon the
islands of St. Christopher, Guadeloupe and
Martinique. The Protestant population of
Guadeloupe was at that time very considerable.
"There is a quarter of the island," complained
the apostolic missionary, Du Tertre, in 1667,
" which is quite thickly inhabited, but in which
there are neither priests nor churches. This
fact hinders the Catholics from settling- there,
but the Huguenots establish themselves in that
part of the island all the more willingly, because
they find greater freedom for the exercise of
their reliofion." '

Larger numbers settled on the island of St.
Christopher. Here, as early as the year 1670,
were the Allaires, the Pintards, the Marions, the
Le Contes, the L'Hommedieus, and many others,
whose names have become familiar to American
ears, or have suffered changes that make them
difficult to recognize. Some of these families
appear to have remained in the French islands
for more than a single generation.^ In the lists

prominent part in the Revolution, and in 1774 formed the
first company of vohmteer cavahy organized in Pennsyl-
vania. (Communicated by his descendant, William Camac,
M.D., of Philadelphia.)

' Du Tertre, Hist. Gen. des Antilles, u. s.

^ Histoire Generale des Antilles, par M. Adrien Dessalles.
Tome H., pp. 417-437. Role General des Habitants de Saint
Christophe. Extrait des cartons non dates, de cette col-
onie, conserves aux Archives de la marine. Although with-
out date, this list may be presumed to be of the same period
with similar lists of the inhabitants of Martinique — (Ibid. vol.

AMERICAN HUGUENOT NAMES. 2ii

particularly of families that settled at New ch£p.iii.
Rochelle, near the city of New York, mention iG^'j.
is made of several children that were born on
the island of St. Christopher. Here, too, lived
the first pastor of New Rochelle, David de
Bonrepos.

But the time was approaching, when these
remote islands were to be visited by the storm
that burst upon the Protestants in France.
The policy of Richelieu and Mazarin had now
been abandoned ; and the government, bent
upon the extirpation of the Huguenots at
home, sought to inflict the same severities upon

I., pp. 562-572), and Guadeloupe (vol. II., pp. 438-453),
both of which bear the date 167 1.

The " role des habitants de Saint Christophe" embraces
some twelve hundred names. Among them are the follow-
ing which re-appear among the Huguenot families in
America :

Jacques Allaire, Jean Baton, Elie Baudry, Elie Bonrepos,
Francois Bellereau, Antoine Bocquet, Jean Boyer, Franyois
Bourdeaux, Pierre Bureau, Jean Buretel, Isaac Caillaud,
Jean and Pierre Campion, Ayme [Ami] Canche, Charles
Carrelet, Pierre Chevalier, Jean David, Francois Deschamps,
Louis Desveaux, Louis and Pierre Dubois, Daniel Duche-
min, Pierre Durand, Christophe Duteil, Gabriel, Jean,
Michel, Noel and Robert Duval, Jacques and Pierre Le
Tellier, Pierre Fleuriau, Jean Gaillard, Noel Gendron, Antoine
Gosselin, Jean Grignon, Rene Guerineau, Francois Guichard,
Jean Hastier, Antoine JoUin, Pierre Jouneau, Jean de La-
font, Louis and Pierre Le Breton, Jean Le Comte, Jean
Le Maistre, Pierre Le Lieure, Pierre and Jacques Le Roux,
Josias Le Vilain, Benjamin L'Hommedieu, Etienne Maho
[Mahault], Antoine Marion, Frangois and Pierre Martin,
Francois, Louis and Jean Masse, Thomas Maurice, Francois
Mesnard, Jacques Mesureur, Jean Morin, Jean Noel, Pierre
Nollo, Jean Nos [Neau], Elie and Gabriel Papin, Antoine
Pintard, Philippe Poirier, Jean Poulain, Francois Ravaux,
Pierre and Francois Renard, Nicolas Requier, Jean Roze,

212 THE ANTILLES.

ciiap^iii. them in the colonies. Edicts came across the
1664. water, ordering the enforcement of the decrees
published for the suppression of the Protestant
worship, and the proscription of the Protestant
name. In 1664, the religionists were cautioned
not to exceed the privileges which had until
then been permitted them, and which they had
thus far enjoyed, of assembling themselves in
private houses to make their prayers ; and they
were particularly admonished to avoid being
present in places where the host was carried,
or other religious processions were passing,

Elie Rousseau, Jean Rulland, Joseph Sauvage, Nicolas The-
venin, Rene Tongrelou.

It is not to be supposed that the above list contains the
names of all the French Protestant families transported
from the Antilles to America. Many Huguenots doubtless
emigrated from France to those islands after the presumed
date of this list (1671) and before the date of the Revoca-
tion of the Edict of Nantes (16S5). Neither does the list
contain the names of those unfortunate victims of persecution
who, as we shall see further on, were transported to the
French West Indies a/fer the Revocation. To the former
class belong the names of Guillaume Le Conte, Jacques
Lasty, Jean Thauvet, Gerard Douens, Alexandre Allaire,
of whose residence in St. Christopher, previous to the Rev-
ocation, we have evidence from other sources.

Among the inhabitants of Guadeloupe in 1671, we recog-
nize the following American names :

Jean and Pierre Allaire, Thomas Colin, Michel Coton-
neau, Elie Coudret, Jean Dalle, Delanoe, Jean Gombault,
Paul Guionneau, Elie Gosselin, Jean Hamel, Abraham
Hulin, Francois Le Blond, Jean Lespinard, Jean Le Comte,
Jamain, Edouard Machet, Thomas and Vincent Mahau,
Jacques Potel, Daniel Roberdeau. Among the inhabitants
of Martinique in 1671 were Antoine Bonneau, Jean and
Thomas Chevalier, Mathurin Coudray, Etienne Joullin, Fran-
cois Masse, Francois Monnel, Jean Neuville, Jean le Vilain,
lean, Martin, Michel, Nicolas le Roux.

PROSCRIPTIVE EDICTS. 213

unless willing to show the usual marks of re- chap. iii.
spect.' Another law in the same year took from i^Tj
Protestants the right to sell their estates in the
islands.^ A third prohibited them from enoao-ino-
in conversation upon the mysteries of the faith. ^
Still another decree forbade the public sino-in^j-
of psalms, upon vessels commanded by Hugue-
not captains, whether at sea or in harbor.^

These were the echoes of a legislation that was
being rigidly executed, as we shall see, in France :
but with reference to the colonies, it seems to
have been as yet ineffectual. The governors
of the islands, from the first, had shown an utter
indifference to the religious concerns of the
inhabitants. 5 One of them, at least, Levasseur,

' Loix et Constitutions des Colonies Frangoises de
I'Ameiique sous le Vent. Tome I., p. 118.

^ Ibid. p. 131.

' Ibid.

* Ibid. p. 180. The government of Louis XIV. had com-
menced the forced '' conversion " of the officers and sea-
men in the pubUc service. The greater number of these
were Protestants. In 1680, the king announced his inten-
tion to remove by degrees from the navy all those who
should continue to profess the Pretended Reformed Re-
ligion. A, few months later, it was ordered that inquiry be
made whether the mass was celebrated, and other exercises
of the Catholic religion were observed, publicly and aloud,
and in the poop, on board the king's ships, at the appointed
times ; whether the captains in any way hindered the per-
formance of these duties ; and also as to the manner in
which the prayers of those of the Pretended Reformed Re-
ligion were observed, whether in the foreship or between
decks ; and whether they took care to say them in a low
voice, and in such a way as not to be overheard. — (Bulletin
de la societe de I'histoire du protestantisme fran^ais, tome

II-. PP- 335. 33^)

^ " II est vray que long-temps auparavant que la Com-

214 THE ANTILLES.

Chap. III. for twelve years governor of the island of Tor-
167 1, tuga, was himself an avowed Protestant,' The
apostolic missionary Du Tertre complained in
1 67 1 that the governor of Guadeloupe had
raised a Huguenot gentleman to the most
important posts in that island.'' The heretics
Protestant were practicing the rites of their religion with

officials. gj-Qwing audacity. Nothing but the remon-
strances of the vigilant friars and priests deterred
the authorities from permitting the open and
public celebration of the Reformed worship in
the islands. 3

As the violence of persecution increased in
France, other Huijuenots sought refuse in the
Antilles. Among these, in 1679, came Elie
Neau, afterwards the heroic confessor of the

pagnie feust en possession de ces Isles, il y avoit des Her-
etiques tolerez par toutes les lies : mais en tres-petit nombre ;
lesquels s'estant accreus par la connivance de qiielgites Gouv-
erneurs, ont totijours tente," etc. — (Du Tertre, Hist. Gen.
des Antilles, etc., T. III., p. 317.)

' Dessalles, Hist. Gen. des Antilles, T. I., p. 87.

^ Le sieur Potel. (Du Tertre, Hist. Gen. des Antilles, etc.,
T. II. , p. 422.) — Rochefort mentions Monsieur Postel among
"les principaus Oiificiers, et les plus honorables Habitans "
of Guadeloupe, 1658. — (Hist, des Antilles, et(^., p. 26.)
Jacques Potell is named among the habitants of Guade-
loupe in 167 1. — (Dessalles, Hist. Gen. des Antilles, T. II. ,
p. 447)

^ " II est vray que le zele des Religieux Missionaires a
empesche qu'ils n'ayent fait en public I'exercice de leur Re-
ligion, et ils en ont porte de si frequentes plaintes aux
Gouverneurs, qu'on a tousiours puni par des Amendes
pecuniaires, ceux qui se sont assemblez pour en faire les
fonctions, de sorte que jusqu'a present il ne s'est fait dans
les lies aucun exercice public, que de la Religion Catholique,
Apostolique et Romaine." — (Du Tertre, Hist. Gen des An-
tilles, etc., T. II. , p. 422.)

ELIE NEAU IN THE WEST INDIES. 215

faith in the French galleys, and the devoted Chap. iii.
teacher of negro slaves in New York. Bred to a 1679
sea-faring life, Neau had left his home in the prin-
cipality of Soubise, in Saintonge, at the age of
eighteen, apprehending the troubles that began in
that province under the administration of Maril-
lac and Demuin, He spent several years in the
Dutch and French islands of the West Indies,
and would have settled in one of the latter, but
for the prospect that the freedom of conscience
enjoyed by the colonists would soon be invaded.
Neau, at a later stage of his life, dated the com-
mencement of his own profound experience of
the power of religion, from the period of his
sojourn among the French islands. Alluding to
a severe affliction that befell him about this
time, he says : *' It was there that God began to
speak to my heart, and granted me His love.
My ignorance, however, made me to be like the
blind man, who saw men as trees walking, the first
time that the Lord touched his eyes. For I did
indeed love God: but I did not know Him well
enough to be constrained to live onl}' for Him." '
Instances of interference with the rights of
conscience had indeed occurred in the French
islands, before the catastrophe of the Revoca- jyjieie
tion. In 1664, a school-book containing verses i664.
deemed to be contrary to the Roman religion
and the mass, having been found in the posses-
sion of a child of tender years, he was sentenced

' Histoire abbregee des Souffrances du sieur Elie Neau, sur
les galeres, et dans les Cachots de Marseille. — A Rotterdam,
chez Abraham Acher. M.DCC.I. P. 99.

2l6 THE ANTILLES.

Chap. III. to be beaten at the church door by his father ;

1664. the parents were subjected to a heavy fine, and

the schoohiiaster was held for trial.' About the

same time, it was decreed that persons who

should speak in public against the doctrines and

Occa- ceremonies of the Roman Religion, should be

^^°^^^ punished by havincr the lips slit, and the tongue

seventies, ^ • i 1

pierced by a hot iron, and by perpetual banish-
ment from the islands.^ In the year 1678, the
Council of Martinique, rendering judgment
against Jean Boutilier, merchant, prohibited all
persons of "the Religion " from assembling in
any wise for the purpose of saying their prayers,
whether aloud or in a low voice.^ But the
reluctance of the colonial government to proceed
to such extremities, appears from the increasing
strictness of the orders sent from France for
the enforcement of the royal decrees. In 1683,
the Council of Martinique registered the follow-
ing order from the king : " As for the pretended
Reformed, you shall not suffer them to practice
any public exercise of their religion, nor permit
any of them to be employed in the [public]
charges. You shall not even allow any inhab-
itant of that religion to settle in the islands, with
the purpose of acquiring lands, unless by express
order. Concerning those who may frequent the
islands for the purposes of trade, they may be

' Loix et Constitutions des Colonies Francoises de I'Amer-
ique sous le Vent. Paris. [1784.] Tome I., Page 116.

' Ibid. P. 117.

^ Histoire Generale des Antilles, par M. Adrien Dessalles.
T. III. P. 213.

METHODS OF INTIMIDATION. 217

tolerated, but without any exercise whatsoever chap. iii.
of their rehgion." ' j^^

Another chapter of Huguenot history in the
Antilles — and a sadder one — begins with the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The vol-
untary emigration of French Protestants to
these colonies, and their quiet establishment
among them, during a time of comparative free-
dom from persecution, was now followed, in
1686, and the two succeeding years, by the com-
pulsory transportation of persons sentenced to
penal servitude, on account of their religion.

This method of intimidation, and of punish-
ment, was employed for a while with great effect
by the government of Louis XIV. It was a
refinement upon the dragomiadcs, and other
measures for the enforced conversion of his
Majesty's Reformed subjects. No other fate
was so dreaded. Even the galley-slave viewed
the sentence of transportation to the islands of
America, as a doom far more terrible than his
own. The populations, especially, of the inland
provinces of France, were made to believe that
the condition of persons sent to the French
islands would be one of utter misery and degra-
dation. They were to be held as slaves, and
subjected by the planters to the same treatment
with their neeroes and their cattle. America
was pictured to them as a country where they
would be not only friendless, but reduced to a
hopeless and cruel captivity.

'Ibid., III., 214.

2l8 THE ANTILLES.

Chap. III. These apprehensions were far from ground-
j586 less. A system of peonage, attended with many
of the worst features of slavery, prevailed in the
French islands. Introduced by the "boucan-
iers," or sea-rovers, who infested the Antilles at
an early day, it had been adopted by their suc-
The cessors, the planters. The "■engages,'' as they

' engages." ^^,gj-g called, were generally Frenchmen, who had
sold themselves to serve for three years in the
colonies. They were employed in severe field
labors, under the burning sun of the tropics :
and they were wholly at the mercy of masters
often inhuman, and always irresponsible. It was
said that one of these masters boasted openly
that he had killed three hundred "enoagres"
with his own hand.' Stories like the followine,
which had come down from the times of the
buccaneers, were doubtless known in France,
and were heard with horror by the Sabbath-
keeping Huguenot : — An " engage," not improb-
ably a Protestant, whose master was accus-
tomed to send him every Sunday to the sea-
shore, to carry the skins of cattle that had
been slaucrhtered durinof the week, ventured
to remind him of the divine command : Six
days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work : but
the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy
God : in it thou shalt not do any work. " And
I," answered the fierce freebooter, " I tell thee,
Six days shalt thou slaughter bullocks, and skin

Histoire des Aventuriers qui se sont signales dans les
mers des Indes. Par Alex. Oexmelin, Paris : 1713- — Quoted
in Routier des lies Antilles. Paris : 1824. P. 20.

TRANSPORTATION DREADED. 219

them; and the seventh day thou shalt carry chap. in.
their hides to the sea-shore " : and, as Raynal j^gg
says, the command was enforced with blows,
compelHng the violation of the law of heaven.'

It is not to be supposed, however, that the
French government seriously contemplated, at
any time, the transportation of large numbers of
the Huguenots, to serve as slaves in the colonies.
It was undoubtedly for the purpose chiefly of
intimidation, that the measure was announced.
All conceivable pains were taken to intensify the
impression of horror which that announcement
produced. Those who had withstood every
other effort to shake their firmness, were now
driven by hundreds to the sea-ports. The mis-
eries of the journey were aggravated in every
possible way. Parents and children, husbands
and wives, neighbors and friends, were carefully
separated from one another. Companies of
soldiers escorted the wretched travelers, not so

' Un de ces malheureux, [les engages,] a qui son avilisse-
ment avait laisse assez de religion pour qu'il se res-
souvint, que le dimanche est un jour de repos, osa repre-
senter a son maitre, qui chaque semaine choisissait ce jour
pour se mettre en route, que Dieu avait proscrit un tel
usage, quand il avait dit : Tu travailleras six jours, et le
septieme tu te reposeras : Et moi, reprit le feroce boucanier,
et moije dis ! six jours tu tueras des taureaux pour les ecor-
c/ier, et le septieme tu eti porteras les peaux au bord de la mer:
et ce commandement fut accompagne de coups de batons
qui, dit I'abbe Raynal, [Histoire philosophique et politique
des etablissements et du commerce des Europeens dans les
deux Indes, t. V. p. 213,] tantot font observer, et tantot
font violer les commandements de Dieu. — Histoire poli-
tique et statistique de V He d'Hayti, Saint Domingue. Paris :
1826. P. 61.

220 THE ANTILLES.

Chap. III. much to prevent their escape, as to degrade
1686. them, by giving to the procession the aspect of
a Qfangf of criminals. Some were carried in
■ carts, bound in such a manner as to increase
their discomfort at every motion : while others
walked, tied two by two, like convicts on their
way to prison. Most of them were conducted
to the sea-port of Marseilles. Many sickened
and died on the way. Others perished in the
famous Tour de Constance, while waiting for the
vessels that were to transport them to the islands.
But many thousands, after resisting every effort
to overcome their faithfulness, and bearing the
hardships of this shameful journey, yielded in
the end. At the sight of the ships, that were to
carry them far from their native land into
slavery, their hearts failed them.' Those who
persevered, were the wonder and admiration of
their brethren. To them, this kind of persecu-
tion was, as one expressed it, " a terrible tempt-
ation. So long as one is in the kingdom, one
flatters one's self, one hopes, one receives a little
comfort from one's friends and relations. The
Church, whose eyes are upon us, the edification of
our brethren, and all things conduce to animate
and encourage us to the conflict. But to see
one's self deprived of all those powerful motives
at once — to go into a new world, there to be
buried as it were, separated from the rest of
mankind, in a state worse than that of a slave.

' Histoire de I'Edit de Nantes [par Elie Benoist]. A
Delft, chez Adrien Beman, MDCXCV. Tome troisieme,
seconde partie. Pp. 973-975.

NUMBERS ACTUALLY SKIPPED. 22 1

abandoned to the discretion of a man who goes chap. iii.
to the end of the world in quest of riches, and 1686-
who, without any regard to humanity, treats his ^(333
slaves in proportion to their labor, and the
profit which he reaps thereby — good God ! —
what an Egypt is this, to those faithful martyrs
who are transported thither ! " '

The numbers actually shipped for the French
islands were considerable.^ Between the month
of September, 1686, and the beginning of the
year 1688, as many as ten vessels sailed from
Marseilles, most of them bound for Martinique,
and carrying over one thousand Huguenots,
men and women. ^ Our accounts of this forced

' A Specimen of Papal and French Persecution. As also.
Of the Faith and Patience of the late French Confessors and
Martyrs. Exhibited in the Cruel Sufferings, and most
Exemplary Behaviour of that Eminent Confessor and INLartyr,
Mr. Leiuis de MaroUes. — Done newly out of French. — London.
Printed by S. Holt, 17 12. Pp. 69, 70.

" Benoist, whose work appeared in 1693 and 1695, speaks
of " plusieurs centaines de personnes ; " but from informa-
tion that has been published in our own day, and that fully
confirms the accounts given' by the author of the History of
the Edict of Nantes, it would seem that the number must
have exceeded his estimate.

' A decree of the Council of State, Sept. 24, 1688, exempt-
ing religionists and new converts sent to the islands from
the payment of a poll-tax for one year, alludes to them as
having been thus transported " since the month of January
of last year." — (Loix et Constitutions, etc., I., 474.) The
first arrivals, then, occurred in January, 1687, and the ship
that brought the first detachment may have been the one re-
ferred to by Louis de Marolles, who writes in September.
1686: " It is designed next week to embark 150 invalid
galley slaves for America." (P. 69). De Marolles men-
tions a second ship as about to sail, in January, 1687,
(P. 92.) This vessel may have carried about the same num-

222 THE ANTILLES.

Chap. III. emigration, however, are in complete. It is prob-
1686- able that the whole number was much greater.
1688 There were some of these unfortunates, whose

courage gave out just at the last. On the eve
of their embarkation, overcome with fear, they
recanted. This weakness did not save them
from an irrevocable fate. The " new converts,"
as they were called, were shipped with the rest,
and fared no better than their more resolute
brethren.

The miserable fate of these exiles awakened

^ a profound sympathy among the Protestants

awakened throughout France, and in all Europe. To the

in .

Europe, refugees in Germany, Switzerland, and Great
Britain, the name America — destined to be the
synonym of freedom — meant slavery ; a lot
infinitely more pitiable than their own. This
sympathy found expression in many touching-
ways. The French pastors gathered in the city
of Zurich testified their compassion " for those
who are now weeping under the iron yoke of the

ber of passengers. The ship Notre Dame de bonne espe-
rance, with another vessel, left Marseilles March 12, 1687,
the two having on board two hundred and twenty-four
persons. (Benoist, V., 976. — Bulletin de la societe de 1' his-
toire du protestantisme frangais, XI L, 74-79.) Two ships
that left ALarseilles a little later, carried one hundred and
sixty persons. (Bulletin, u. s.) On the i8th of September,
1687, the pink La Marie, with seventy-nine, and the ship
La Concorde, with ninety passengers, sailed from the same
port. (Memoires de Samuel de Pechels. Toulouse : 1878,
p. 50.) Two vessels that reached the islands in the begin-
ning of the year 1688, had on board one hundred and eighty
persons. (Bulletin, n. s) Thus the transportations of
which we have positive knowledge amount to at least a
thousand.

A TRANSPORT-SHIP AT CADIZ. 223

heathen in Africa, and those who in America chap.iii.
groan under the rod of wickedness." ' Jean 1686-
Oh-y, of Metz, sentenced with ten others to ^ggg
transportation for their rehgious faith, relates
that on reaching the city of La Rochelle, where
they were to embark for the West Indies, the
prisoners found on board the vessel three ladies,
who had been awaiting their arrival for several
days, to offer them, in behalf of their brethren
in that city, gifts of money and clothing, and of
provisions, including wine and other delicacies,
for their comfort on the voyage.^ One of the
ships that left Marseilles in the spring of the
year 1687, carrying a large company of banished
Huguenots, was forced by stress of weather to
anchor in the port of Cadiz. The governor of
that city had the curiosity to visit them, and was
so touched by the condition of the women, that
he sent them a present of fruit. Among other
persons attracted by this strange arrival, was a
French officer who chanced to be in the harbor.
On the deck of the ship, he saw several young
women, whose faces wore a deathlike pallor. I
inquired of them, he says, how it happened that
they were going to America. They replied in
tones of heroic firmness, Because we will not
worship the beast, nor fall down before images.
This, they added, is our crime. The officer
went below, and found in the ship's cabin eighty
women and girls, lying upon mattresses, in the

' Bulletin de la soc. de V hist, du prot. fran?., VII., 57.
" Ibid., VI., 309.

224 THE ANTILLES.

Chap. Ill, most pitiable condition. My lips were closed,
1686- he writes ; I had not a word of comfort to speak
1688. to them. But instead of my consoling them, it
was they who consoled me, in lano-uaee the
most affecting- ; and as I continued speechless,
they said. We entreat you to remember us in
your prayers. Ask that God would give us
grace to persevere to the end, that we may have
part in the crow^n of life. As for us, we lay our
hands upon our mouths, and we say that all
thinirs come from Him who is the Kincr of
kings. It is in Him that we put our trust.'

Two ships that sailed from Marseilles in Sep-
tember, 1687, only reached St. Domingo in
February of the following year. The Concorde
carried ninety Protestant captives ; the Marie,
seventy-nine. Of these prisoners, the greater
number were from lower Languedoc and the
Cevennes. Their suffering's durine the lono-
voyage of five months were extremely great.
The vessels were small and overcrowded, and
. the supply of food and water was insufficient.
On the Marie, fifty-nine persons were huddled
together in a compartment not large enough to
accommodate twenty. In an adjoining cabin,
seventy worn-out galley-slaves, on their way to
the islands to be sold to the planters, were con-
fined, heavily chained, in a space equally con-
tracted. Both classes of prisoners were devoured
with vermin. Shut up, much of the time, in

' Bulletin de la soc. de 1' hist, du prot. franc;., XI., 156.
Comp. Benoist, Hist, de 1' Edit de Nantes, V., 976.

HORRORS OF THE PASSAGE. 225

these wretched quarters, where the unfortunate chap. iii.
occupant could neither stand erect, nor stretch 1686-
himself on the floor, without incommoding an- go
other, the stifling heat, the consuming thirst, the
pangs of hunger, to which the sufferers were ex-
posed, were aggravated by the cruelty of their
keepers. As often as they happened to see us
engaged in prayer, or in singing psalms — writes
one of the passengers — they would fall upon us
with blows, or deluge us with sea-water. Their
constant talk was of the miseries that awaited
us in America. They told us that, when we
should reach the islands, the men would be hung,
and the women would be given up to the savages,
should they refuse to attend mass. But far
from being terrified by these threats, to which
we had now become accustomed, many of us
felt a secret joy at the thought that it had
pleased God to call us to suffer even unto death
for His holy name. Our resolution was unshaken
by the abuse we experienced every day. As for
myself, all this seemed to me as nothing, and as
not worthy to be compared to the glory that
should follow. Blessed are they which suffer for
righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of
Heaven.'

In this forced emigration, not a few perished
at sea, through sickness, exposure, privation,
or by shipwreck. From the accounts that have
come down to us, it appears that at least one-

' Memoires de Samuel de Pechels. Publies par Raoul de
Cazenove. Toulouse : 1878. Pp. 50-56.

226 THE ANTILLES.

Chap. III. fourth of the number embarked, died during the
1686- voyage. The Esperancc, which left Marseilles
1688 ^'^ ^^ twelfth of March, 1687, with a company
of seventy men and thirty women, was wrecked,
on the nineteenth of May, upon the rocks near
the island of Martinique. Thirty-seven of the
number perished. The survivors were hospita-
bly received by the Caribs, who met them upon
the shore, lighted fires to warm them, and
brought them supplies of cassava, the native
substitute for bread. Among the French, they
were treated with similar kindness. Guiraud, of
Nismes, after spending five months on that island,
escaped to the English quarter of St. Chris-
topher, where he found a home with a French
planter, a naturalized subject of England, who
treated him as his own son.'

Martinique, the principal destination of the
transport-ships, was at this time one of the most
populous and important of the French Antilles.
As the Huguenots approached it, their impres-
sions of gloom and dread must have been
deepened by the aspect of the lofty island.
Its broken outline, bearing with remarkable
distinctness the marks of an igneous origin,
can be descried far out at sea. The interior of
the island is a mass of precipitous rock, from
which one peak, Mount Pelee, rises to a height
of four thousand five hundred feet. Here and
there may be seen the craters of extinct vol-

' Bulletin de la soc. de I'hist. du prot. franf., XIL, pp.
74-79-

Les
mornes.

MARTINIQUE. 227

canoes. From the almost inaccessible center of chap. in.
the island, long ridges of lava extend to the 1687.
shores, where they form deep indentations along
the coast. Between these ridores lie broad,-
irregular valleys of great fertility, watered by
numerous streams from the surroundine heiehts.

o o

Amid these valleys, the rich vegetation of which
contrasted singularly with the grandeur of the
mountains, clothed with primeval forests, or
rugged and sterile, the Huguenots noticed with
special interest the mornes, or rounded hillocks,
rising upon the lowland. Many of them were
crowned with the dwellings of planters, who chose
these elevated sites partly for health and partly
also for safety, in view of the frequent inundations
caused by the swelling of the mountain torrents.
Religious persecution had already commenced
in the islands, before the arrival of the banished
Huguenots. A few months after the Revoca-
tion of the Edict of Nantes, orders came to
Count de Blenac, the orovernor-ofeneral, direct-
ing him to take measures without delay for the
extirpation of heresy in the islands. The king
hoped that his colonial subjects would readily
follow the example of so many of their brethren
in France, and renounce their errors. Should
any prove stubborn, however, they were to be
dealt with accordingly. The obstinate might be
punished by imprisonment, or by the quartering
of soldiers in their houses. An exception was
made for the present in the case of the inhab-
itants of St. Christopher : inasmuch as the work
of uprooting heresy would be attended with

228 THE ANTILLES.

Chap. Ill, greater difficulty there than in the other islands,
1687. because of the facilities that the religionists
enjoyed to attend heretical worship in the
English part of the island, or to escape to the
English altogether. Lenient measures might
there be tried, before a harsher course should be
adopted. The king, however, would give all to
understand, that he was resolved in no wise to
permit the Protestants on the islands to remove
from them, for the purpose of establishing
themselves elsewhere.'

These orders were followed by others, hav-
ing reference to the companies of Huguenots
sentenced to be transported to the colonies.
Immediately upon their arrival, they were to be
distributed among the different islands, and
placed at service with the planters. No dis-
crimination was made in favor of the " nou-
veaux convertis," who had hoped to procure a
mitigation of their sentence by abjuring their
faith. These were to be carefully watched, and
compelled to perform their duties as Catholics :
but they were sent off with the rest/

The islands of Guadeloupe, St. Martin, St.
Large Eustatius, and St. Domingo, received num-

mor a 1 y. |_^^^^ of these captives. In their new homes,
many died soon of grief and of exhaustion.
Of those that survived, the greater number
appear to have fallen into the hands of hu-

' Histoire Generale des Antilles, par M. Adrien Dessalles.
Paris. 1847. Tome IL, p. 6^.

* Histoire Generale des Antilles, par M. A. Dessalles.
Tome HL, p. 215.

HUMANE TREATMENT. 229

mane masters. Guiraud, one of the ship- Chap. iii.
wrecked passengers of the Esperance, relates 1688.
that he spent five months in Saint-Pierre, on the
island of Martinique, and received much kind-
ness from several persons. In fact, not a few of
the merchants and planters held the same faith
with the exiles. They regarded them as illus-
trious witnesses for the truth, and thought it an
honor to acknowledge them as brethren, and to
relieve their necessities.

The prisoners landed on the island of St, Do-
mingo,were especially fortunate in finding friends.
One of them, Samuel de Pechels, relates that
upon reaching Port-au-Prince, he and his com-
rades were kindly received by the captain of the
king's ship lying in the harbor. The governor
treated them with great humanity. De Pechels
was permitted to visit his fellow-religionists,
but he soon awakened the jealousy of the priests
and monks, who denounced him as hindering
the others from becoming Roman Catholics ;
and he was sent off to another island, from
which he soon succeeded in making his escape.

The first thought of the captives, upon reach-
ing their place of banishment, was naturally that
of flight. In this scheme they were joined by
many of the Protestant inhabitants of the islands,
whom the new policy of religious persecution
now determined to leave their homes and seek
refuge in the Dutch or English islands, or on
the American continent. In the island of Mar-
tinique, secret arrangements were made with the
masters of certain ships, for the transportation of

230 THE ANTILLES.

Chap. III. all the Huguenot families to some foreign terri-
,^^ tory. The governor, De Blenac, hearing of the
project, felt himself obliged to confer with the
Jesuit fathers, and other ecclesiastics of the
island. It was resolved to beein with a course
of intimidation. The leading Protestants were
called together in one of the churches, and
gravely warned, that if they should persist in
their obstinacy, they would be dealt with in all
severity, according to the king's command. The
result may readily be imagined. Every oppor-
tunity of escape was speedily improved. Many
of the Roman Catholics favored the flight of the
exiles, and helped them to effect it. Before
the end of the year 1687, the king was informed
that his Protestant subjects, by whole families,
were leaving the islands daily.'

Methods The methods of escape were various. Some-

of escape. ■ i t t i * 11

tunes the Huguenot, watchmg upon the shore,
would succeed in attracting the notice of some
passing bark, and in persuading the captain to
carry him with his household and his goods to
a friendly port. At another time, the owner of
a small sloop, or schooner, would stealthily
convey his family on board, and set sail for
the continent. Such an adventurer, Etienne
Hamel, master of the brigantine Amorante,
reached the harbor of New York in June, 1686 :
" a poore french Protestant," as he represents
himself, " who leaving his Estate behind him

' Histoire Generale des Antilles, par M. A. Dessalles.
T. IL, pp. 64-66.

FLIGHT FROM THE ISLANDS. 231

has been forced to fly from the Rigorous Perse- Chap. iii.
cution in Gardalupa [Guadeloupe] into these 1686.
parts with Intent here to settle."' The greater
number made their way to the English or Dutch
islands, and thence obtained passage either to
some Protestant country of Europe, or to Amer-
ica. A 'company of thirty, who had come over
together in one of the vessels from Marseilles,
escaped- from Martinique to the English quar-
ter of St. Christopher, and there took ship for
Germany.^

It was at this period that a number of the
French inhabitants of the Antilles came to New
York. In the month of November, 1686, the
governor of Canada received word from that city
that within a short time fifty or sixty Hugue-
nots had arrived from the islands of St. Chris-
topher and Martinique, and were settling them-
selves there and in the neighborhood. " Fresh
material, this, for banditti," wrote the governor,
in reporting the fact to his royal master.^ We
have the names of fifty-four of these fugitives.
The heads of families were, Alejiandre Allaire,
Elie de Bonrepos, Jean Boutilier, Isaac Caillaud,
Ami Canche, Daniel Duchemin, Pierre Fleuriau,
Daniel Gombauld, Etienne Hamel, Jean Hastier,
Pierre Jouneau, Jacques Lasty, Guillaume le

' English Manuscripts in the office of the Secretary of
State, Albany, N. Y., Vol. XXXVIII., p. 31. ,

^ Bulletin de la soc. de I'hist. du prot. francpais, XII., 79.

' Documents relative to the Colonial History of the
State of New York. Vol. IX., p. 309. M. de Denonville
to M. de Seignelay, Quebec, November 16, 1686.

232 THE ANTILLES.

Chap. III. Conte, Pierre le Conte, Josias le Vilain, Ben-
1686. jamin rHommedieu, Elie Pelletreau, Jean Neuf-
ville, Elie Papin, Antoine Pintard, Andre Thau-
vet, Jacob Theroulde, Rene Tongrelou, Louis
Bongrand, Etienne Bouyer, Gilles Gaudineau,
Jean Machet, Isaac Mercier, Paul Merlin, Jean
Pelletreau, and Etienne Valleau,'

Most of these immigrants, it would appear,
had been residing" in the French islands for some
years. There is reason to believe that they be-
lonofed to the number of French Protestants
who had voluntarily sought a home in the
Antilles, and had remained there so long as

' An Act for the naturalizing of Daniell Duchemin and
others, Sept. 27, 1687. From (unpubUshed MSS.) "Stat-
utes at Large of New York : 1 664-1 691. From Original
Records and Authentic Manuscripts." Kindly communi-
cated to me by Geo. H. Moore, LL.D.

The Sieur Boisbelleau, of Guadeloupe, came to New York
the year before. The petition of Francis Basset, master,
and Francis Vincent, mate, of a vessel sailing from the port
of New York, August 13, 1685, shows that they were taken
prisoners by the Spaniards, who carried them to the town
of St. Domingo, where they were very ill used for the space
of four months, and from whence, by a particular providence
of God, they made their escape in a canoe to the little
Goyaves. Arriving there witli much difficulty, and destitute
of all things necessary (the Spaniards having stripped them
of their very clothes) the Sieur Boybelleau was moved with
compassion towards them, for the extreme misery of such
poor desolate captives that had lost all they had, and were
like also in a short time to lose their lives, and brought them
back in his vessel to New York. Upon this representation
the ship was exempted from duties and charges. — (N. Y.
Colonial MSS., Vol. XXXII. folio 86.) Denization was
granted to John Boisbelleau, Sept. 2, 1685. — (Calendar of
English MSS., N. Y., p. 140.) The same year, he settled at
Gravesend, Long Island, N. Y., and was living there in 1687,
— (Documentary History of New York, Vol. I., p. 661.)

TARDY CHANGE OF POLICY. 233

they could enjoy some measure of religious free- chap. in.
dom. The last eight names, however, are not 16S7.
found in the lists of the earlier inhabitants of the
islands. It is not unlikely that Bongrand,
Bouyer, Gaudineau, Machet, Mercier, Merlin,
Pelletreau, and Valleau, may have belonged to
the body of Huguenots transported to the
islands after the Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes. Many others, doubtless, of whom we
have no definite knowledge, found their way to
this country, and settled in South Carolina, in
Virginia, in Maryland, as well as in New York
and New England.

The Hueuenot refugee from Eno-land Vvdio
reached Boston in October, 1687, learned on the
voyage, by a ship from Martinique, that nearly
all the French Protestants had escaped from the
islands. " We have several of them here in
Boston," he adds, " with their entire fami-
lies.

Too late to arrest this movement, so ruinous
to its colonial interests, the French government
relaxed the severity of a policy that was depop-
ulating the islands. Orders came from the king,
enjoining great gentleness toward those who
persisted in their heresy, as well as toward the
" new converts." These were not to be com-
pelled to approach the sacraments, but were
only to be required to attend upon religious in-
struction. Both the religionists and the con-
verts, for their encouragement to remain in
the islands, were relieved of the poll-tax imposed

234 THE ANTILLES.

chap^iii. upon the inhabitants, for the first year of their
1688. residence.'

A modern writer states that considerable

numbers of French Protestants remained in the

Antilles after the period of active persecution ;

"submissively awaiting the happy hour when it

might please the sovereign to revoke the ordi-

ant? " nances that oppressed them, and enable them

^^S^the"^ to enjoy without molestation the blessings of

islands. \^\^ reign." ^ From time to time, some of the

colonists who had taken refuofe in America re-

turned to the West Indies i^ and amontr the

French merchants of New York, the custom

long prevailed — a custom introduced by the

refugees — of sending their sons upon the com-

' Ordre du Roi touchant les Religionnaires et les nou-
veaux Convertis envoyes aux lies Du i^'' Sept. 1688. Sa
M^ a approuve la distribution que les Administrateurs ont
fait dans toutes les Isles, des Religionnaires et nouveaux
Convertis qu' Elle leur a envoyes, et leur recommande de
tenir la main a ce que ceux qui font encore profession de la
R. P. R. abjurent, et que les autres fassent leurs devoirs de
Catholiques, non pas en les obligeant par force a approcher
les Sacremens ; mais en les traitant avec douceur, et les
obligeant seulement a assister aux instructions. Elle desire
aussi qu'ils tiennent la main a ce que les Ecclesiastiques des
Isles aient une application particuliere a les instruire, et
qu'ils fassent de leur cote tout ce qui dependra d 'eux pour
les obliger a rester dans les Isles, et de s'y faire Habitans. —
Loix et Constitutions des Colonies Francoises de I'Amerique
sous le Vent. Tome I., p. 469.

^ Histoire Generale des Antilles, par M. Adrien Dessalles.
Tome III., p. 215.
, ^ Others remained longer in the islands, and came to

America at a later day. Moses Gombeaux, commander of
the sloop St. Bertram, of Martinico, petitioned the governor
and council, June 8, 1726, for permission to stop in the port
of New York for supplies and repairs. Moyse Gombauld

BERMUDA. 235

pletion of their business education, to spend chap. iii.
some time in tlie islands, whither many family
and social ties continued to draw them."

Several Huguenot families that settled in the
French West Indies, eventually removed to Ber-
muda, where their descendants are found at the
present day. The Godet, Corbusier^ and Le
Thuillier families, went thither from the island
of St. Eustatius.3 A tradition preserved in the

and Anne Frangoise Pintard, his wife, were members of the
French Church in New York, 1 736-1 742. A tradition exists
in the Pintard family, to the effect that " Moses Gombauld,
who was son-in-law to Anthony Pintard', was imprisoned in
the West Indies, and escaped by means of a rope," which
had been stealthily conveyed to him by some friends, and
"with which he scaled the prison walls, and so escaped."

' The History of the late Province of New York, by the
Hon. William Smith. New York : 1829. Vol. H., p. 95,
note.

"^ "About a century ago there was a Colonel Corbusier
among the first gentry of the island." (Gen. Sir John H.
Lefroy.)

' The following " French names from registers of births,
marriages, etc., at St. Eustatius, from 1773 to 1778," were
very obligingly procured for me in the year 1877, by Gen-
eral Sir John 'H. Lefroy, at that time Governor of Bermuda.
There can be no doubt that these are names of French
Protestants, inasmuch as the entries were made by the chap-
lain to the Dutch forces in St. Eustatius :

Romage. M. Cuvilje (child buried April 29, 1773).
Sellioke. Corbusier. La Grasse (buried April 4, 1775)-
Raveaue, M. Collomb (buried April 16, 1776). Preveaux
(buried June 2, 1776). Dubrois Godette (buried May 29,
1776). M. J. Cadette (buried June 12, 1776). Miss Le
Spare (buried Aug. 20, 1776). Zanes. Mrs. Bardin (buried
Jan. 28, 1773). Danzies. M. Guizon (buried Dec. 5,
1773). Erthe. Miss Chabert (buried June 5, 1775). Pan-
yea. M. Gilliard (buried May 20, 1776). Charitres. M.
Lefevre (buried May 30, 1776). Pesant. M. Gillott (buried
Sept. 19, 1777). Pancho. L'Comb. Caianna. Savallani.

236 THE ANTILLES.

Chap. III. Godet family, of Bermuda, represents that two
brothers of that name fled from France at the
time of the Revocation, effecting their escape
by hiding themselves in empty casks, on board
a ship sailing for England. From England
they emigrated to the West Indies, where they
found homes, the one in Guadeloupe, and the
other in Antieua and St. Eustatius. The Perot

Foissin. Lagourgue. Crochet. — Theodorus Godet, born
about the year 1670, married Sarah La Roux in Antigua in
1700. He was a prosperous merchant, who resided for
several years in the island of St. Eustatius, and died
September 20, 1740, in Maho Bay, Guadeloupe, whitlier
he had gone to visit his brother. He had eight
children : Anne, Sarah, Theodorus, Jacob, Martin I3u
Brois, Mary Ann, Gideon and Adrian. Martin Du
Brois, born in Willoughby Bay, Antigua, March 6, 1709,
married Adriana, daughter of Lucus and Anne Benners,
July 17, 1731. He died Nov. 25, 1796. His son Theodorus,
born in St. Eustatius, Sept. 27, 1734, was educated in Bos-
ton, U. S. He married in Bermuda, Aug. 3, 1753, Melicent,
daughter of Col. Thomas Gilbert, and had six children.
He died in Bermuda in 1808. Thomas Martin Du Brois,
son of Theodorus and Melicent Godet, was born in Ber-
muda, May I, 1769. He married, March 25, 1795, Mary Ann,
widow of William Gilbert, Esq., and daughter of the Rev.
John Moore, Rector and Incumbent of Somerset Tribe.
He died at St. Eustatius, Sept. 23, 1826, leaving five children.
Thomas Martin Du Brois, son of the preceding, was born in
Paget's Parish, Oct. 3, 1802. He married his cousin, Meli-
cent Godet, Dec. 27, 1832. He died. May 29, 1861, leaving
six children, among whom is Frederick Lennock Godet,
Esq., Clerk of Her Majesty's Council, Bermuda.

Theodore Godet was naturalized in England, Sept. 9,
1698. — (Lists of naturalized Denizens ; in Protestant Exiles
from France in the Reign of Louis XIV. By the Rev.
David C. A. Agnew. London, 1874. Vol. III., p. 61.) The
name Dubrois, used in this family as a baptismal name, is
that of a Huguenot family that fled in 1683 from La
Rochelle to England. — (Archives Nationales, Tt. No. 259. —
Protestant Exiles, etc., III., p. 55.)

THE ANTILLES. 237

family, of Bermuda, Is descended from Jacques chap. iii.
Perot, one of the Huguenot refugees in the
city of New York.'

* Jacques, son of Jacques Perot and Marie Cousson his wife,
was born May 20, 1712, and was baptized in the French
Church in New York, May 26, " apres Taction de I'apres
diner." — (Records of the French Church, New York.) He was
sent in early manhood by his father to Bermuda, where he
settled, and married Frances Maliory. He died, February
29, 1780, leaving eight children, Martha, Mary, Elliston, John,
James, William, Frances, and Angelina. Elliston, son of
Jacques and Marie Perot, born in Bermuda, March 16, 1747,
was sent to New York to be educated, by his uncle, Robert
Elliston, then Comptroller of the Customs, who placed him in
the school kept bypasteur Stouppe, in New Rochelle, where
he was a schoolmate of the celebrated John Jay. Upon
his uncle's death, he returned to Bermuda. After engaging
in business in the islands of Dominica, St. Christopher and
St. Eustatius, he removed to the United States in 1784, and
commenced business with his brother John as a merchant in
Philadelphia. In 1786, he was admitted a member of the
Society of Friends. He married, in 1787, Sarah, daughter
of Samuel and Hannah Sansom, who died August 22, 1808.
Elliston Perot was prominently associated with many of the
public enterprises of his time, and left a name that is held
in high honor to this day. He died in Philadelphia, Novem-
ber 28, 1834, aged eighty-eight years. His brother William
left a son, William B. Perot, of Parlaville, Hamilton, Ber-
muda, who died in 187 1, leaving a son, William Henry Perot,
of Baltimore, Maryland. The family is also represented in
this country by Elliston's descendants, Francis Perot, Esq.,
now [1884] in his eighty-sixth year, and Elliston Perot
Morris, Esq., of Philadelphia, Penn.

CHAPTER IV

Approach of the Revocation.

Chap. IV. The political importance of the Huguenots in
1628. France may be said to have ceased with the fall
of their principal city, La Rochelle, in the year
1628. That importance had first appeared in
the reign of F"rancis H. It lasted for seventy
years — through the stormy times of the League,
and the Civil Wars, the pacific reign of Henry
IV., and the years following his reign, during
which the provisions of the Edict of Nantes
were carried out with some decree of faithful-
ness. It waned rapidly under Louis XIII., when
the government showed itself increasingly dis-
posed to set aside the provisions of that Edict.
Fall One after another of the cautionary towns and
La the fortified places held by the Huguenots suc-
cumbed to the royal forces. At length, after a
siege of fourteen months. La Rochelle was cap-
tured, and with its fall, the part that Protest-
antism had played in the affairs of the state
came to an end.

The higher nobility now very generally de-
serted the Protestant cause. Many of them
had joined it during the civil wars ; and so long
as the Edict remained in full force, they found
it for their advantage to cling to the Huguenot
party. Its political consequence was not the

POLITICAL IMPORTANCE. 239

only feature that held out inducements to those chap. iv.
who were ambitious of preferment and distinc- 1628.
tion. The ecclesiastical system of the Reformed
Church, with its presbyterian synods and assem-
blies, in which laymen sat with the ministers,
gave opportunity to the Protestant nobles to
take the lead in spiritual affairs, and like the
political assemblies, provincial and national,
which formed, indeed, no part of the ecclesiastical
system, but which, ever since the time of the
massacre of St. Bartholomew's day, had con-
tributed not a little to the strength of the
Huguenots, served to increase the prominence
of the Protestant nobility.

No longer influential with the great, nor for- The
midable in the eyes of the government, the nots
Huguenots accepted the situation, and, after the toforma
fall of La Rochelle and Montauban, gave them- p^^^^-
selves up zealously to the pursuit of the arts of
peace. A time of comparative tranquillity and
prosperity ensued upon the loss of their political
prestige. Throughout the provinces where they
were most numerous, they engaged with fresh
diligrence in agriculture, manufactures, and trade.
The Protestants of southern and western France
surpassed all others as cultivators of the soil.
In many of the seaboard towns, Huguenot mer-
chants had long been foremost in commercial
enterprise. The foreign trade of the kingdom
came to be, very largely, controlled by therri.'

' A striking testimony to this fact is given in a document
already cited. (See above, page 126, note.) Announcing to the

240 APPROACH OF THE REVOCATION.

chap^iv. Inventive and industrious, they applied them-

1629- selves with great success to the mechanical arts.

1660. The manufactures of woolen cloth, and linen
o-oods, of serge, and silks, and sail-cloth, the
iron-works and paper mills, and tanneries, that
enriched France at this period, were founded or
promoted chiefly by Protestants. In every de-
partment of labor, they were fitted to excel by
their morality, their intelligence, and their thrift.
The truthfulness and honesty of the Huguenot
became proverbial. " They are bad Catholics,"
said one of their enemies, " but excellent men of
business." " All our seaports," complained an-
other, "are full of heretic captains, pilots and
traders, who, inasmuch as their souls are alto-

Their crether busied in traffic, make themselves more
to trade perfect therein than Catholics can well be."
manufac- Religiously observing one day in seven as a day

tures. ^£ ^^g^^ ^i^gj^ devotion to trade was not inter-
rupted by the many saints' days of the Roman
Catholic calendar. Surrounded by watchful
enemies, and schooled to self-restraint, they
were prudent and circumspect in their dealings
with others, and ready to combine and co-operate
among- themselves in their business procedures.
Meanwhile, their loyalty to the government
could not be impeached. INIore than once the
kino; and his ministers testified to the fact that

governor of Canada the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
Louis XIV. speaks of the great number of conversions that
have taken place, " whole cities, in which ahnost all -the
merchants made profession of the Pretended Reformed Reli-
gion, having abjured it."

LOYALTY OF THE HUGUENOTS. 241

the Protestants no longer caused the state any ciiap.m.
anxiety. When a discontented prince, as the 1672-
Duke of Montmorency, or the Prince of Conde,
sought to draw them into rebelHon, for the fur- ' "
therance of his ambitious schemes, he found the
Huguenots firm in their attachment to the
throne. A very striking declaration to this
effect was made by Cardinal Mazarin, prime less.
minister of Louis XIII., a short time before his
death. The king, said he to a deputation of
Protestants who came to remonstrate with him
in relation to certain encroachments upon their
rights, would be wanting in justice and in good-
ness, if he did not look with the same favor
upon the Reformed as upon the Catholics, since
they have been not less prompt to shed their
blood and to yield up their property for his
service, than they.' Even Louis XIV. acknowl-
edged at a later day that his Protestant subjects
had given him abundant proofs of their fidelity.
It was no political necessity, then, demanding
a change in its treatment of them, that impelled
the government, upon the death of Mazarin, to March
enter upon that course of vexatious restriction 1661.
and oppression which culminated, a quarter of a
century later, in the Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes. The Huguenots were inoffensive to
the state, and positively important to the ma-
terial interests of the country. The king had
confessedly no better servants than they, in the
various offices, civic and military, which as yet

' Benoist, Histoire de I'Edit de Nantes, Tome HI., p. 268.

242 APPROACH OF THE REVOCATION.

Chap. IV. were open to those of the new reHgion, as well
1661. as to those of the old. France had no more
peaceable, moral, enterprising citizens. But the
Church of Rome continued to be, as it had
been from the first, the vigilant and relentless
enemy of the Reformed faith. And the Church
had now a pliant tool in the occupant of the
throne of France. Louis XIV., like his prede-
j^j g cessor, had pledged his word, upon ascending
I6i3. the throne, to maintain the provisions of the Edict
of Nantes irrevocably.' But already the doc-
trine had been broached and advocated, that this
perpetual edict was to be held binding only so
long as the occasion for its existence might last.^
If by any means the heretics in whose behalf
that edict had been prepared, should be induced
to renounce their errors, then the law would be-
come inoperative, and might properly be re-
voked. To brincr about this result, the king-,

' " Savoir faisons que nous .'. . . avons dit et declare, disons
et declarons par ces presentes, signees de notre main,
voulons et nous plait, que nosdits sujets faisans profession
de ladite Religion pretendue Reformee, jouissent et ayent
I'exercise libre et entier de ladite Religion, conformement
aux Edits, Declarations, et Reglemens faits sur ce sujet, sans
qu'a ce faire ils puissent etre troublez, ni inquietez en
quelque sorte et maniere que ce soit. Lesquels Edits bien
que perpetuels, nous avons de nouveau, entant que besoin
est, ou seroit, confirmez, et confirmons par cesdites pre-
sentes : voulons les contrevenans a iceux etre punis et
chatiez, comme perturbateurs du repos public." — (Declara-
tion, portant confirmation de I'Edit de Nantes, etc., donnee
par le Roi Louis XIV. en minorite, le 8. de Juillet 1643.
Benoist, Histoire de I'Edit de Nante.s, tome troisieme,
premiere partie. Recueil d'Edits, etc. Pp. 3, 4.)

" Benoist, Histoire de I'Edit de Nantes, tome troisieme,
premiere partie, pp. 281, 282.

THE FAMILY ATTACKED. 243

inspired by the clergy, bent all his energies. A Chap. rv.
series of measures, designed to hamper and re- 1661.
press, and more and more to intimidate and dis-
courage the Protestants throughout the king-
dom, was entered upon by the government.

One of the first of these measures was di-
rected against the family. In 1661, a decree of jj^j.gj^
the Council fixed the age at which Protestant 24,
children might lawfully renounce the faith of
their parents, at fourteen years in the case of
boys, and at twelve in the case of girls. Subse-
quent decrees prohibited parents from seeking
to dissuade their children from taking this step,
forbade their sending them out of the country
to be educated, and finally fixed the age of con-
version at seven years. No better device for 17^
introducing disorder and misery into the homes
of the Huguenots could possibly have been
adopted. The zealous emissaries of the Church
availed themselves abundantly of the authority
given them under these laws. The whole country
soon rang with the lamentations and complaints
of parents whose children were secretly enticed
or openly carried off from their natural pro-
tectors. The slightest pretext answered to jus-
tify the kidnapper. The child that could be per-
suaded, by the promise of a toy or of a holiday,
to say Ave Maria, or to express a willingness
to attend mass, was instantly claimed as a Cath-
olic, and either placed at once in the hands of
the clergy, to be brought up as such, or returned
to the parents with strict orders to bring it up
as a member of the true Church. Often, indeed,

1681.

244 APPROACH OF THE REVOCATION.

Chap. IV. the capture was effected with even less formality.
1681. Children were taken without form of law, and
the protests and prayers of parents were utterly
unheeded by the courts of justice. This mode
of persecution alone, says Benoist, was so severe,
that it would seem well-nigh impossible to add
anything to it.'

Other measures of the government deprived
the Huguenots of the facilities they enjoyed for
the education of their children. The Edict of
Nantes had secured to them equal rights, in
these respects, with their Roman Catholic neigh-
bors. Now, these rights were gradually cur-
November tailed. In 1664, the new buildings which the

28 . . .

1664. Protestants of Nismes had added to their college
were given to the Jesuits, and the professors
were placed under the authority of the Jesuit
April rector. Two years later, Protestant nobles were
1666. forbidden to maintain academies for the instruc-
tion of their children. Another decree pro-
hibited the consistories and synods of the
Reformed Church from censuring parents who
should send their children to Roman Catholic
November schools. A little later, Protestant school-

1670. masters were forbidden to teach children any
branch of learninof besides readinof, writino- and
arithmetic. A decree soon followed, ordaining

December that but a single school of the " Pretended Re-

1671. formed Religion " should be kept in any one of
the places where the public profession of that

' Histoire de I'Edit de Nantes, tome troisi^me, seconde
partie, p. 19.

THE SCHOOLS ATTACKED. 245

religion was permitted under the Edict of chap. nr.
Nantes, and that no more than a single master 167 1.
should be allowed for each school. While on
the one hand thus reducing the opportunities
for primary instruction to the narrowest possi-
ble limits, the government on the other hand
proceeded to suppress the great Protestant
colleges and academies, which had been, for
a century or more, the glory of the Reformed
Churches of France. In 1681, the Council of
State suppressed the Protestant academy which
Coligny had founded at Chatillon-sur-Loing ; juiy
and the more famous academy of Sedan, which igsi.
had been founded by Henry IV. In 1684, the September
academy of Die was suppressed. In January of 1034.
the next year, the academy of Saumur, " a torch"
that had "illuminated all Europe" for eighty January
years, was extinguished. The last of these 1035
Protestant seats of learning, the academy of
Montauban, ceased to exist by an order of the M-rch
Council dated the fifth of March, 1685. icss.

The Protestant churches, or "temples," as
they were called, shared the fate of the schools
and colleges. Upon the slightest conceivable
pretext, they were closed or demolished. In January
1662, twenty-three out of the twenty-five jgsi
churches in the small territory of Gex, on the
border of Switzerland, where the Protestants
composed a majority of the population, were
shut up, on the ground that the provisions of
the Edict of Nantes did not extend to this terri-
tory, which had been acquired by the crown
since its enactment. From that time until the

246 APPROACH OF THE REVOCATION.

Chap. IV. epoch of the Revocation, in 1685, not a year
1662- passed that was not signaHzed by the destruc-
jgg- tion of many Huguenot houses of worship.
Sometimes, this destruction was the work of the
mob, incited by the clergy, and rarely punished
by the authorities. More generally, it was
performed by the officers of the law, at the
command of the government itself. Occasion-
ally, a reason was assigned for the suppression.
Thus the "temple" of St. Hippolyte, in the
region of the Cevennes, was torn down by
order of the Council in 1681, because one of
the worshipers failed to uncover his head
when the host was passing, as he came out
of the church door. The "temple" of Mil-
haud, in Languedoc, was demolished in 1682,
because some of the Huguenots, on their way
by boat to the service, had sung psalms aloud.
The "temple" of Usez, in Languedoc, where
three-fourths of the population were Protest-
ants, was destroyed in 1676, for the reason that
it was too near the church of the Papists, and
the psalm-singing disturbed the service of the
mass. An edict published in 1680 prohibited the
Protestant ministers from permitting Roman
Catholics to frequent their preaching, and inter-
dicted forever the observance of "the religion"
in any place where a Roman Catholic had been
admitted to profess it. But in most cases, no
reason whatever was pfiven. A conere^ation
received notice of the suppression and confisca-
tion of its sanctuary, cemetery, and consistory-
house, and all protest or appeal was vain. It

THE CHURCHES ATTACKED, 247

was even made a crime for the shelterless flock chap. iv.
to meet for prayer and praise under the open 1662-
sky, on the site of their demolished "temple," 1685.
as many congregations persisted in doing, in
spite of fine and imprisonment.

No measures taken by the government caused
greater satisfaction to the Church of Rome,
than those by which it thus sought to hinder
the exercise of the hated religion. An assem-
bly of the clergy of the diocese of Aries gave
public thanks to the king "for the demolition
of so many temples which had been raised to
the idol of falsehood, for the suppression of so
many colleges, which were seminaries of perdi-
tion," and declared that it regarded " these
happy beginnings as auguring that the king
would deal the fatal blow to the monstrous
hydra of heresy."

The policy of restriction which thus bore Exclusion
upon the family, the school and the church, fol- ^^^"^'^3
lowed the Huguenot also into his daily calling, ^JJ^^^^
Though the Edict of Nantes expressly provided sions.
for the security of the Protestants in all their
lawful avocations, the government of Louis
XIV., long before the Revocation, began to
close against them, one by one, the employ-
ments in which hitherto they had found means
of support. They were excluded successively
from all civil and municipal charges, as farmers
and receivers of taxes, officers of the mint,
magistrates, notaries, advocates, marshals and
sergeants. The professions were commanded
to repel them. They were forbidden to prac-

248 APPROACH OF THE REVOCATION.

Chap. IV. tise as physicians or surgeons, or to exercise the
1662- functions of printers, booksellers, clerks and
j5g- public messengers. The various classes of
craftsmen were cautioned against admitting
them. No Protestant was allowed to act as
guardian of orphan children, though the parents
mieht have been Protestants. Huf^uenot
women were no longer suffered to act as millin-
ers, laundresses or midwives. The ingenuity of
the government seems to have been taxed to
the utmost, to contrive ways of harassing and
hindering the obdurate heretic, and forcing him
within the pale of the Church.

But the triumph of that ingenuity was re-
served for the Dragoniiadcs. This method of
procuring forced conversions was not altogether
October new. A similar method had been tried, many

1630. . .

years before, by the troops of Louis XIII., in the
conquered province of Beam, and it had proved
eminently successful. The king, in his desire
1681.' for the more rapid conversion of his Protestant
subjects, now suggested a renewal of the experi-
ment. The dragonnades consisted simply in the
military occupation of a territory whose inhab-
itants were at peace and defenseless. Bodies
of soldiers were marched into its towns and
villages, and quartered upon the Huguenot
families. " If, according to a fair distribution,"
wrote the king, " they could entertain as many
as ten apiece, you may assign them twenty."
The troops had orders to prolong their stay,
until their hosts should abjure. Meanwhile, they
were at liberty to inflict upon them any kind of

THE DRAGONNADES. 249

outrage, short of violation or death. The Chap. rv.
wretched famihes saw themselves not only im- 1681.
poverished, and liable to be utterly beggared by
their rapacious guests, but exposed also to their
licensed brutality. The historian Benoist fills
many pages with particulars of these inflictions,
and adds: "In short, these dragoons did, in
order to compel these people to turn Catholic,
all that soldiers are accustomed to do in an
enemy's country, for the purpose of forcing
their hosts to give up their money, or to reveal in an
the place where they have hidden their goods, country.
They spared neither men, nor women, nor chil-
dren ; neither the poor, nor the sick, nor the
aged."

It was in June, 1681, — directly after the out- june
break of this inhuman system of warfare upon the ill\^
innocent and the defenseless, — that the king
issued the declaration to which reference has
already been made, permitting the children of per-
sons of the Reformed religion to renounce it, and
to embrace the Roman Catholic faith, at the age
of seven years. And it would be hard to say
which of these two measures produced the
greater consternation among the unfortunate
Protestants of France, and which awakened
the deeper indignation throughout Protestant
Europe. If the one decree consigned the
family to the violence of a brutal soldiery, the
other exposed it to the insidious arts of nuns
and priests. Henceforth, no Huguenot home
was safe from invasion : and Louis had at last
convinced his Protestant subjects that there was

250 APPROACH OF THE REVOCATION.

Chap. IV. no length

168]

Forced
conver-
sions.

to which he was not ready to go, to
"compel them to enter"' the fold of Rome.

The drao-onnadcs beQan in Poitou : but under
the directions of Marillac, governor of that
province, the system speedily extended to the
other provinces of France. Its immediate results
were highly satisfactory to the clergy and the
court. It mattered little to either, that the con-
versions reported to them were forced, and had
been procured by the most iniquitous means.
France was in a fair way to be rid of the plague
of heresy, and the time was at hand when the
hated Eclict of Nantes might be abolished be-
cause no longer operative.

These rejoicings, however, were soon dis-
turbed by tidings that came from the prov-
inces, the frontiers of the kingdom, and the
neighboring states of Europe, that the Hugue-
nots were fleeing from France by hundreds, and
thousands, and tens of thousands. The year of
the dragonnadcs, in fact, marks the beginning of
that exodus, which in a little while depleted the
kingdom of a great part of its best population,
and enriched immensely the foreign states to
which the fugitives were welcomed.

Already, from time to time, — ever since the
massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Eve, — the
Protestants of France had fled to those countries
in considerable numbers, from increasing per-

• " Compel them to come in." These words, a horrible
perversion of the command in the parable of the Great
Supper, (Luke xiv., 23,) were often upon the lips of the
king and the persecuting clergy.

THE EXODUS. 251

secutions at home. The last of these emio-ra- chap. iv.
tions had occurred some fifteen years before, 1681-
when the s^overnment became aware that its ^o
shipping interests were suffering seriously in
consequence of the flight of so many of the sea-
faring inhabitants of the western provinces.
But nothing like the present movement had ever
been witnessed. From every part of the king-
dom the report came, that whole districts were
depopulated, and that the industry of the coun-
try was paralyzed.

The ingenuity of a desperate people was Expedi-
taxed to the utmost, to devise methods of oTthe
escape. " Of those who lived near the sea-board, f^s^t^^^s-
some would conceal themselves in bales of
merchandise, or under loads of charcoal, or
in empty hogsheads. Others were stowed in
the holds of vessels, where they lay in heaps,
men, women and children, coming forth only in
the dead of the night to breathe the air. Some
would risk themselves in frail barks, for a voy-
age, the very thought of which would once have
made them shudder with fear. The guards
placed by the king to watch the coast, some-
times became softened, and found such oppor-
tunities of gain in favoring the flight of the
Protestants, that they even went so far as to as-
sist them. The captains of cruisers, who had
orders to intercept any vessels that might carry
fugitives, themselves conveyed great numbers
of them out of the kinsfdom : and in almost
every sea-port, the admiralty officers, tempted
by the profits which the shipmasters shared with

252 APPROACH OF THE REVOCATION.

Flight

by sea

and

land.

cha^iv. them, allowed many persons to pass, whose
1681- hiding places they would not have found it very
1685. difficult to discover. There were families that
paid from four to six or eight thousand livrcs
for their escape. The same thing occurred on
the landward side of the kincrdom. Persons
stationed to guard the roads and passages,
would furnish guides, at a certain price, to those
whom they had been instructed to arrest, and
would even serve in this capacity themselves. As
for such as could not avail themselves of these
advantaores, for want of skill or lack of means,
they contrived a thousand ways to elude the
vigilance of the countless sentinels appointed to
prevent their flight. Often they disguised
themselves as peasants, driving cattle before
them, or carrying bundles, as if on their way to
some market ; or as soldiers, returning to their
garrison in some town of Holland or Germany ;
or as servants, in the livery of their masters.
Never before had there been seen so many
merchants, called by pressing business into for-
eign parts. But where no such expedients
w^ere practicable, the fugitives betook them-
selves to unfrequented and difficult roads ; they
traveled by night only ; they crossed the rivers
by fords scarcely known, or unused because of
danger ; they spent the day in forests and in cav-
erns, or concealed in barns and in haystacks.
Women resorted to the same artifices with the
men, and fied under all sorts of disguises. They
dressed themselves as servants, as peasants, as
nurses. They trundled wheelbarrows, they car-

THE COLLAPSE. 253

ried hods, they bore burdens. They passed Chap. rv.
themselves off as the wives of their guides. 1681-
They dressed in men's clothes, and followed on .^sc
foot as lackeys, while their guides rode on horse-
back, as persons of quality. Men and women
disguised themselves as mendicants, and passed
through the places where they were most ex-
posed to suspicion, in tattered garments, begging
their bread from door to door."'

The strain was too great ; and it had been kept
up too long. The Huguenots had renounced
their dream of political power. For years past,
their anxiety had been to escape so far as possi-
ble the notice of statesmen and of parties, and
in obscurity lead quiet and peaceable lives in
all godliness and honesty. But their very sub-
missiveness and loyalty had been misinterpreted.
The priest-ridden king conceived that nothing
more was needed, for the subjection of these
obdurate heretics to the religion of the state,
than the increase of penalties and hardships.
The clergy were confident that the tame and
ignorant peasantry would yield, as so many of
the hieh-born and cultured had done, under the
pressure of the royal command. Many did
yield outwardly ; though it may well be doubted
if, of all the conversions brought about by the
Infliction of leeal disabilities, and the brutalities
of the dragojtJiades, a single one was sincere.
But many, of more heroic mold, resisted every

' Benoist, Histoire de I'Edit de Nantes, tome troisieme,
seconde partie. Pp. 948-954.

254 APPROACH OF THE REVOCATION.

Chap. IV. effort to detach them from their faith. And

1681- multitudes who had yielded outwardly, or

1685. ^^^° succeeded in evading punishment, were

not less eaorer than their more courageous

brethren to fly from the country, and seek

refuge in Protestant lands.

Doors of escape opened speedily to the suf-
. ferers. England, where so many of their per-
secuted countrymen had for generations found
an asylum, was foremost in its offers of hospi-
tality. The British envoy resident in Paris
kept his government informed of the measures
Doors taken by Louis XIV. ag^ainst his Reformed

of .

Escape, subjects, and warmly urged the king to plead
their cause. The " terrible edict " of June, 1681,
at length decided Charles II. to this step,
j^iy The very next month, a royal proclamation was
jIIi issued, promising letters of denization under
the Great Seal of England to all " distressed
Protestants," " who by reason of the rigors and
severities which are used towards them upon
the account of their religion, shall be forced to
quit their native country, and shall desire to
shelter themselves under his Majesty's royal
protection, for the preservation and free exer-
cise of their religion." The refugees were
assured that they should enjoy all such further
privileges and immunities as might be consistent
with the laws, for the free exercise of their
trades and handicrafts ; and that an Act would
be introduced at the next meeting of Parlia-
ment, for the naturalization of all such Protest-
ants as should come over. No heavier duties

ENGLAND'S WELCOME.

255

should be imposed upon them than upon his
Majesty's natural-born subjects ; and equal ad-
vantages with those enjoyed by native subjects
should be given them for the entrance of their
children into the scnools and colleges of the
realm.

To render these liberal provisions effective, it
was ordered, that such Protestants should be
suffered to pass the customs free of all duties,
with their Qroods and household stuff, tools and
instruments of trade ; and that all his Majesty's
officers, both civil and military, should give
them kind reception upon their arrival within
any of the ports of the realm, furnish them with
free passports, and grant them all assistance
and furtherance in their journeys to the places
whither they might desire to go. Finally, the
royal proclamation ordered that collections be
made throughout the kingdom, to provide relief
for such of the refu^jees as mio^ht stand in need
thereof : and the Archbishop of Canterbury and
the Bishop of London were appointed to receive
any requests or petitions which the refugees
niight wish upon their arrival to present to the
king.

Holland did not linger far behind its Protest-
ant neighbor in overtures of hospitality to the
oppressed Huguenots. In September of the
same year, the magistrates of Amsterdam
offered them the rights of citizenship and the
privileges of trade, and the States-General an-
nounced that all who should settle in their
territory would be exempted for the space of

Chap. IV.
1681.

The

Eoyal

Bounty.

Other
overtures.

September
24.

256 APPROACH OF THE REVOCATION.

Chap. IV. twelve years from the payment of taxes. The

1681. Lutheran king of Denmark was equally prompt
and liberal in promises of protection and ex-
emption ; and the Protestant cantons of Switzer-
land were not slow to testify their sympathy
with their persecuted brethren, and invite them
to take refuge within their borders.

A few years later, upon the Revocation of the
Edict of Nantes, the Protestant States of Ger-
many joined in this movement. No sooner had
that crowning act of intolerance and perfidy
The been proclaimed to the world, than the Elector
^PriuceT* ^^ Brandenburg, and other Protestant princes,
testified their indignation, by offering the pro-
scribed Huguenots a home, and by making the
amplest provisions for them within their domin-
ions.

And still, in France, the work of persecution
went steadily forward. Louis XIW was carry-
ing out to the letter the counsels of his spiritual
advisers, and striving to make amends for his
kingly vices by crushing heresy. To prevent
his Protestant subjects from quitting the coun-
try, and from availing themselves of the
invitations of foreign powers, Louis lays upon
theni his royal behest to remain at home — and
be converted. Decree follows decree, forbid-
ding all seamen and craftsmen to remove with

May their families and settle themselves in other
18, .■..,. ,

1682. countries, upon pam 01 condemnation to the

galleys for life. His Majesty announces to his
people that "an infinite number" of conversions
are taking place in all parts of the kingdom.

THE PERSECUTION CONTINUES.

257

1685.

October

22,

1685.

But forasmuch as there still remain some persons chap. iv
who not only stubbornly continue in their blind- 1681-
ness, but hinder others from opening their eyes,
and prompt them to leave the country, thus
adopting a course opposed to their salvation, to
their own interests, and to the fidelity which
they owe their sovereign, all persons who may
be found guilty of having induced others thus to
remove, shall be punished by fine and bodily
inflictions.

The infatuation of Louis XIV. reached its
height, when in October, 1685, he issued the
famous decree, proclaiming the success of the
measures taken for the extirpation of heresy,
and announcing the revocation and suppression
of the Edict of Nantes, the Edict of Nismes,
and all other edicts and decrees made in favor
of the Protestants in his king^dom.

"With that just gratitude which we owe to
God," said the royal fanatic, " we now see that
our efforts have attained the end we have had
in view : since the best and greatest part of our
subjects of that Religion have embraced the
Catholic Religion. And inasmuch as by this
means the execution of the Edict of Nantes, and
of all other ordinances in favor of the said Re-
ligion, remains useless, we have judged that we
could do nothing better, wholly to efface the
memory of the troubles, the confusion and the
evils which the progress of that false Religion
had caused in our realm, and which had given
occasion to that Edict, and to so many other
Edicts and Declarations that preceded it, or that

The

Edict

Bevoca-

tion.

258 THE REVOCATION.

Chap. IV. have resulted from it, than to revoke altogether

1685. the said Edict of Nantes."

The Revocation was but the finishing" stroke
of a policy that had been pursued with marvel-
ous steadiness for a quarter of a century. It
ordered the immediate demolition of all re-
maining "temples" or places of worship of the
Pretended Reformed Religion. It prohibited
the religionists from assembling in any house or
locality whatsoever, for the exercises of that
religion. jNIinisters of the said Religion were
commanded, if unwilling to embrace the Cath-
olic faith, to leave the kingdom within fifteen
days after the publication of the present Edict,
Provisions and meanwhile to perform no function of their

Edict, office, under penalty of the galleys. Private
schools for the instruction of children of the
said Religion were prohibited, "as well as all
things in oreneral that miorht denote any con-
cession whatsoever in favor of the said Relio-ion."
Parents were commanded, under heavy penalties,
to send their infant children to the parish churches
for baptism. All persons professing the said
Religion were " most expressly " forbidden to
leave the kingdom, under penalty of the galleys
for the men, and of imprisonment and the confisca-
tion of goods for the women. Such as had already
left, were invited to return within four months,
with the promise of liberty to resume the peace-
able possession and enjoyment of their property :
but should any fail thus to return, all their goods
would be confiscated. Finally, it would be law-
ful for all his Majesty's subjects to remain within

VERDICT OF POSTERITY. 259

his kingdom, and to continue in their calHngs, chap. iv.
and in the enjoyment of their goods, unmolested 1685.
and unhindered, until such time as it might
please God to enlighten them as He had en-
lightened the others : on condition that they per-
form no exercise of their pretended Religion, nor
assemble themselves under pretext of the
prayers or worship of that Religion.

Such was the purport of the document which
amazed Europe two centuries ago, and which
continues to amaze mankind. The impartial
judgment of the age, and of posterity, upon this
stupendous act of despotism and bigotry, has
perhaps never been better expressed than in
the words of a Roman Catholic cotemporary, a
courtier of Louis XIV., the Duke of Saint
Simon :

" The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, with-
out the slightest pretext, or the least necessity,
as well as the various proclamations, or rather
proscriptions, that followed, were the fruits of
that horrible conspiracy which depopulated a
fourth part of the kingdom, ruined its trade,
weakened it throuorhout, surrendered it for so
long a time to open and avowed pillage by the
dragoons, and authorized the torments and
sufferings by means of which they procured the
death of so many persons of both sexes and by
thousands together. A plot that brought ruin
upon so great a body of people, that tore
asunder countless families, arraying relatives
against relatives, for the purpose of getting pos-
session of their goods, whereupon they left them

26o THE REVOCATION.

Chap. IV. to Starve. A plot that caused our manufactures
1685. to pass over into the hands of foreigners, made
their states to flourish and grow populous at
the expense of our own, and enabled them to
build new cities. A plot that presented to the
nations the spectacle of so vast a multitude of
people, who had committed no crime, proscribed,
denuded, fleeing, wandering, seeking an asylum
afar from their country. A plot that consigned
the noble, the wealthy, the aged, those highly es-
teemed, in many cases, for their piety, their learn-
ing, their virtue, those accustomed to a life of
ease, frail, delicate, to hard labor in the galleys,
under the driver's lash, and for no reason save
that of their religion. A plot that, to crown all
other horrors, filled every province of the king-
dom with perjury and sacrilege ; inasmuch as
while the land rang with the cries of these unhap-
py victims of error, so many others sacrificed
their consciences for their worldly goods and
their comfort, purchasing both by means of
feigned recantations ; recantations from the very
act of which they were dragged, without a
moment's interval, to adore what they did not
believe in, and to receive what was really the
divine Body of the Most Holy One, while
they still remained convinced that they were
eating nothing but bread, and bread which
they were in duty bound to abhor. Such was
the general abomination begotten of flattery
and cruelty. Between the rack and recantation,
between recantation and the Holy Communion,
it did not often happen that four and twenty

THE REVOCATION. 261

hours intervened : and the torturers served chap. iv,
as conductors and as witnesses. Those who 1685.
seemed afterwards to make the change with
greater deHberation, were not slow to beHe their
pretended conversion, by the tenor of their lives,
or by flight."

CHAPTER V.

The Revocation.

flight from la rochelle and aunis,

Chap. V. That part of western France that lies be-
1681- tween the Loire and Gironde rivers — comprising
jgg anciently the seaboard provinces of Poitou, Sain-
tonge, and Aunis — was inhabited, at the period
of the Revocation, by a population largely Prot-
estant. These provinces had been early visited
by zealous disciples of Calvin, Poitiers, the prin-
cipal town of Poitoii, gave shelter to the great
reformer himself, for some months in the begin-
ning of his career ; and a few young men whom
Calvin's he gathered around him then, and who caup;ht

disciples. , . f . . , .-, , . 1 o •

nis lervent spirit while studying the bcriptures
with him, went forth to carry the new doctrines
into every nook and corner of the country. No-
where else in France did the Reformation take
a readier and a firmer hold. By the time of the
outbreak of the first civil war, there were many
parishes where the mass of the people had em-
braced the Reformed faith,' and the churches

' " Un grand nombre de paroisses [surtout sur les bords de
la Sevre-Niortaise et de ses affluents, et, dans le Bas-Poitou,
sur ceux du Lay,] etaient presque entierement protestantes
a I'ouverture des guerres civiles." — Histoire des Protestants
et des eglises reformees du Poitou, par Auguste Lievre, pas-
teur. Paris et Poitiers, 1856. Tome I., page 100.

THE SEABOARD PROVINCES. 26

were either closed, or transformed into Protest- Cha^v.
ant " temples." ' 1562.

Persecution, during the reign of Louis XIV.,
greatly weakened the strength of the Reformed
religion in these provinces. Yet it was still suf-
ficient to justify the king in choosing them for
the scene of that species of warfare upon his
Protestant subjects, which, as we have seen, he
found most effectual in accomplishing forced
conversions. It was in Poitou that the dragon-
nades were initiated by Marillac, the governor
of the province : and thence they soon spread
into Saintono^e and Aunis.

A special interest belongs to this part of
France, as the home of very many of the refu-
gees who fled at the period of the Revocation, Home
and who ultimately made their way to America. American
It will be seen in the following pages that a ^^^g®'
large proportion of the Huguenot families that
came by way of England and Holland to Boston,
New York, Jamestown, and Charleston, in the
last years of the seventeenth century, can be
traced back to the towns and villages of the
country between the Loire and the Gironde.
The present chapter will give the results of
investigations made in this direction.

Aunis, the smallest of the thirty-three prov-
inces into which the Kingdom of France was at

' " In Poitou they have almost all," wrote a traveler, pre-
sumed to be Sir Edwin Sandys, about the year 1599. --Eu-
ropse Speculum, 1599. P. 176. He adds that on the
whole the proportion of Protestants to the Roman Catholics
in France is, however, "not one to twentie."

d'Aunis.

264 LA ROCHELLE.

Chap. V. that time divided, may be called emphatically
1681- the birthplace of American Huguenots. Aunis
^^g indeed, could scarcely be dignified with the
name and rank of a province. It was a part
of Saintonoe, which had been cut off from that
province, and appended to the city of La Ro-
chelle, in the fourteenth century, as a reward for
the fidelity of the citizens to King Charles the
Wise, during his wars with the English. This
little district, commonly styled " terre d'Aunis,"
Terre or "pays d'Aunis," contained only some seven
hundred square miles, and was scarcely more
than a suburb of its great seaport La Rochelle,
which had been the strontrhold of the Protestants

in France for nearly seventy years, and w^hich,
though now dismantled, and spoiled of its ancient
honors, was still the home of many of their
wealthiest and most influential families.

La Rochelle boasted a glorious history. For
almost five centuries, the city enjoyed commer-
cial and municipal privileges of an extraordinary
character. Royal charters, confirmed by succes-
sive kings, secured to the citizens the right of
electing their mayor and other magistrates
every year, and exempted them from all taxes
and imposts. These distinguishing advantages
had been granted not without reason. The
Rochellese w^cre always noted for their loy-
alty to the crown of France, and for the valua-
ble servicers they rendered to the state under
several reigns. One of the most remarkable
recognitions of this fidelity was made by the
king already mentioned, who conferred nobility

A GLORIOUS HISTORY. 265

upon the mayor and magistrates of the city then chap. v.
in office, and upon their successors forever. jT7,

But the proudest recollections of the Rochel-
lese dated from the period of the Reformation.
Their city had early welcomed the " new doc-
trines" preached by Calvin's disciples. Among
the first to embrace the evangelical faith were
some of the monks and priests. Not a few of 1542-
the nuns left their cloisters, to enter a state of jr^s.
life which, as they now learned, Holy Scripture
declared to be honorable in all. The book-
sellers and the schoolmasters of the town helped
to spread the teachings of the reformers. Per-
secution only increased the strength of the
movement ; and at length, so general had the
change of religion become, that the Reformed,
tired of holding their crowded assemblies in 1561.
private houses or in halls, claimed the right to
meet in the churches. For a while this right
was accorded to them, and Protestants and
Romanists worshiped in the same sanctuaries,
the one congregation gathering together as the
other dispersed. So perfect was the harmony
with which this arrangement was carried out,
that on a certain occasion, the priests of the October
church of St. Sauveur, being requested to com-
mence their services at an earlier hour, for the
accommodation of the Protestants, consented to
do so, and agreed to begin matins a little
before daybreak, upon condition that they should
be compensated for the use of extra lights.
This happy state of things, however, lasted but
a few months. The religionists were compelled

266 LA ROCHELLE.

Chap. V. to return to their former places of meeting, and
1562. soon after, the " Edict of January" required them
January ^° hold their assemblies outside of the city
^'^- walls.

In the course of the civil wars that followed,
La Rochelle became the rallying point and the
citadel of the Huguenot party. The vigilance
of its citizens saved them from sharing in the
massacre that commenced in Paris on St. Bar-
tholomew's day ; and their heroic bravery and
constancy enabled them to resist the assaults of

November , , , . 1 1 • 1

1572 the royal army, for nme months, durmg the
juiy°io, memorable siege of 1573. In the next fifty

1573. years, the city reached the height of its pros-
perity and renown. Famous for the strength of
its fortifications, the extent of its commerce, the
wealth of its merchants, the intelligence and
morality of its people, La Rochelle was the
pride of French Protestantism. Its "Grand
Temple," the corner-stone of which had been

1577. laid by Henry, Prince of Conde, was crowded
with vast congregations, that hung upon the
earnest and fearless eloquence of the most
learned and able pastors of the Reformed
Church. During the greater part of this
period, no other worship than that prescribed
by the evangelical faith was performed within
the city walls ; and at the time of the publica-
tion of the Edict of Nantes, the Roman mass
had not been said in La Rochelle for nearly
forty years.

Astir with political interests, holding its im-
portance and its independence only by means of

THE SECOND SIEGE. 267

perpetual watchfulness, La Rochelle was at the chap. v.
same time a center of intelligence for the Prot- 1565.
estants of France. Its college, founded in
1565, and endowed by Jganne d'Albret and the
princes, drew to itself some of the most emi-
nent scholars of the age. Its printing presses
were noted for their incessant activity, and for
the rare excellence of many of their produc-
tions. La Rochelle was chosen for the holdinof
of several of the national assemblies of the
Huguenot party, and of the ecclesiastical assem-
blies of the Reformed churches, A free and
vigorous intellectual life pervaded the place,
quickened by the very anxieties and appre-
hensions that equally prevailed.'

With its second and still more terrible sieQ^e, August
the period of the city's independence and chief 1627,
importance came to an end. In punishment for November
the stubborn resistance offered to his armies, jg^g
and in testimony of his displeasure with a popu-
lace " whose rebellions had been the main stay
and spring of the great wars that had so long

' A notable illustration may be quoted from the historian
Arcere : " In the midst of the troubles of the war, [1574,] pub-
lic entertainments were given in La Rochelle. A tragedy,
entitled Holofernes, was represented. The author of this
dramatic poem was Catharine de Parthenai, afterwards so
well known under the name of the Duchess of Rohan. In
this lady, the graces of a fine literary taste were blended
with learning, and intellectual talent was enhanced by a
heroic courage. It was she who was seen alone to stand firm
upon the ruins of her defeated party, after the reduction of
La Rochelle in 1628, and proudly to endure so conspicuous
a reverse of fortune." — Histoire de la ville de la Rochelle
et du pays d'Aulnis, par M. Arcere. A la Rochelle,
MDCCLVI. Tome I., page 568.

268 LA ROCHELLE.

Chap. V. afflicted the state," Louis XIII. ordered the
1628. complete destruction of those fortifications
which had baffled the utmost skill of his
soldiers and engineers. "It is our will" — so
ran the royal decree — "that they be razed to the
ground, in such wise that the plow may pass
through the soil even as throuoh tilled land."
The special privileges and dignities which the
town had enjoyed for so many centuries were
abrogated ; and the " Grand Temple " of the
Protestants was converted into a cathedral
church.
Its From this downfall, La Rochelle never recov-

political ....

import- ered, as a place of political and military conse-
ceases. quence. Yet it continued to be, for many years,
a fountain-head of moral and religious influences
for the Huguenots of France ; — their " western
Geneva*"; — and long remained exempt from
many of the inflictions to which the Prot-
estants were exposed elsewhere in the king-
dom, under that repressive course which
the government had already entered upon in
its treatment of them. But in 1661, an old
provision of the royal decree for the reduc-
tion of the city after the siege, hitherto un-
executed, was brought to notice, and carried
into effect. This article prohibited all persons
professing the Pretended Reformed Religion
from being admitted as inhabitants of La Ro-
chelle, unless they had resided there previously,
and before the landing of the English forces
under Buckingham, sent to relieve the city
in July, 1627. The article was now confirmed

RUTHLESS EJECTION. 269

by a civil ordinance, and in the month of chap. v.
November it was proclaimed with sound of 1661.
trumpet through the streets of La Rochclle.
F'ifteen days were allowed to those whom it November,
might concern, for their removal from within the
city limits ; and warning was given, that in
case of disobedience they would incur a heavy
fine, to be enforced if necessary by means of
distraint and public sale of their effects. These
tidings were heard with consternation. Many
persons had come to reside in La Rochelle
within the last thirty-three years. Many remem-
bered no other home. They were bound to the
place by countless ties of interest, of habit and
of affection. Notwithstanding, more than three
hundred families obeyed the order. Exemption,
it was well understood, could be purchased by a
change of religion : for the decree applied only
to the Protestant inhabitants. But the tempting
bait was refused. Yet the inconveniences of
removal were very great. The season was most
unfavorable. Rain fell in torrents for three
consecutive weeks. Some, however, took their
departure immediately : while others lingered,
hoping for better weather, and a possible exten-
sion of time. No extension was granted. The
fortnight ended, the order was sternly executed.
Deputy-sheriffs entered private houses, and
levied upon the furniture, putting out into the
street whatever they did not seize. The dis-
possessed inmates were turned adrift. Children
in their cradles, women in child-birth, the aged,
the sick and bed-ridden, were pitilessly ejected.

2/0 LA ROCHELLE.

Chap. V. Many died in the officers' hands : while others

1661 lived barely long enough to be carried out into
the country by their friends/

The archives of the commonwealth of Massa-
chusetts contain an interestinor memorial of this
expulsion, in the petition of John Touton, doc-
August tor chirurgeon, of Rochelle in France, in behalf

1662 ^^ himself and others. The petitioners repre-
sent that they "are, for their religion sake,
outed and expelled from their habitations and
dwellings in Rochelle aforesaid," and they ask
"that they might have so much favor from the
government here, as in some measure to be cer-
tain of their residence here before they under-
take the voyage." If encouraged, they will
" seek to dispose of their estates of Rochelle,
where they may not have any longer continu-
ance."^ A list of the persons making this

' Histoire de I'Edit de Nantes. [Par Elie Benoist.] Tome
troisieme, premiere partie, pp. 431-434.

' " To the honoured Governor, deputy Governor and
Maiistrates of the Massachusetts Colonie — The petition of
John Touton of Rochell in France, Doctor Chirurgion, in
behalfe of himselfe and others. Humbly shewing, that
whereas your petitioner with many other protestants, who
are inhabitants in the said Rotchell, (a list of whose names
was given to tlie said honoured Govnr) who are, for their
religion sake, omted and expelled from their habitations and
dwellings in Rotchell aforesaid, he, your said petitioner
humbly craveth, for himselfe and others as aforesd, that they
may have liberty to come heather, here to inhabit and abide
amongst the English in this Jurisdiction, and to follow such
honest indeavours & ymploymts, as providence hath or shall
direct them unto, whereby they may get a livelihood and
that they might have so much favour from the Govmt
here, as in some measure to be certayne of their residence
here before they undertake the voyage, and what priviledges

Touton.

EMIGRANTS TO AMERICA. 271

request was sent to Governor Endicott along Chap. v.
with the petition. Unhappily, that list has dis- 1662.
appeared ; so that we have no means of learning
either the number or the names of the petition-
ers. That some of them carried out their pur-
pose, is certain. Jean Touton himself is known jean
to have come to this country shortly after:' and
we find that about the same time, a shipmaster
of La Rocheile ^ was arrested under the
charge of havino- received emiofrants bound
for the Enolish colonies in America on board
his vessel. Some of these, it is more than

they may expect here to have, that so accordingly as they
find incoridgmt for further progress herein, they may dis-
pose of their estates of Rotchell, where they may not have
any longer continuance. Thus humbly craveing you would
be pleased to consider of the premisses, and your petitioner
shall forever pray for your happinesse."

15 (8) 1662 Tiie Deputyes thinke meete to graunt this
pet. our honble magistes consenting thereto. William 'I'orrey.

Consented to by ye magists. Edw: Rawson Secret, cleric.
(Massachusetts Archives, Vol. X., p. 208.)

' John Toton [Touton] petitioned the General Court of
Massachusetts, June 29, 1687, showing that he had " ever
since the year 1662 been an Inhabitant in the Territory of
his Majesty." He was a free denizen of Virginia "by my
Lord of Effingham's favour," and was now bound to the
island of Terceira on business for one William Fisher in
Virginia. Learning " that all severity is used against French
Protestants in that Island," he asks for letters representing
him as an Englishman. — (Massachusetts Archives, Vol.
CXXVL, p. 374.)

Touton was living in Rehoboth, Mass., in 1675. — (A
Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New En-
gland, by James Savage.)

• One Brunet, a shipmaster of La Rocheile, who had em-
barked thirty-six young men for America. Presuming that
they had been sent to the English islands [or colonies] in
order to prevent their conversion to the Roman Catholic
faith, the judges of La Rocheile condemned Brunet to a

272 LA ROCHELLE.

Chap. V. probable, made their way to the city of New

1663. Amsterdam, where many of their Protestant
brethren had already found a home. The direc-
tors of the West India Company at Amsterdam
informed Governor Stuyvesant, in the spring of

April 16. t^*^ year 1663, that they had "been approached
in the name of the Protestant people of Ro-
chelle," who were "considerably oppressed and
deprived of their privileges." Subsequent letters
instructed him to prepare for the coming of many

January families of the Reformed religion, not only from
igg^_ La Rochelle, St. Martin, and the surrounding
district, but from many other places in 'France
also, where the churches, it was thought, would
soon be demolished. The <70vernor was com-
manded " in all things to lend the helping hand "
to these worthy refugees. From Stuyvesant's

August reply, it appears that several of the emigrants
*■ from France had reached New Amsterdam.
Among them was a certain Jean Collyn, who
was about to return to France on one of the
Company's vessels, that he might make report
of the country to others. The colonists already
arrived were particularly pleased with Staten

fine of one thousand pounds, and "exemplary punishment,"
unless he should produce these persons within a year, or
give satisfactory proof of their decease, or of their volun-
tary residence in some one of the French colonies. The
Chamber of the Edict reversed this decision : Init the
Council re-affirmed it, on the ground that there was
reason to fear that the young men might be confirmed in
the profession of the Pretended Reformed Religion, should
they remain in the English colonies." — (Histoire chronolo-
gique de I'Eglise Protestante de France, par Charles Drion.
Tome II., p. 72. j

HOMES OF THE ROCHELLESE. 273

Island, where they proposed to settle : and they chap. v.
had hopes that the minister of St. Martin might 1664.
be induced to come over, and undertake the pas-
toral office among them/

For the next twenty years, La Rochelle, ,,

r \ ■ I66I-

thoueh sharinor in many of the oppressions

t6St

which Protestantism throughout France was
experiencing, continued to enjoy some distinct-
ive privileges. Its " temple" remained standing,
when nearly every other Protestant house of w^or-
ship in the province was laid low. Its Protest-
ant population was still large and influential ;
and many of the most affluent families of "the
Religion" were still to be found in this ancient
home of Calvinism : a home all the dearer,
doubtless, because of the memories, sad as well
as glorious, that enriched it.

The descendant of the Huguenots who may streets
visit La Rochelle at the present day, will find a ^^
city possessing not a few of the characteristic RocheUe.
features that were familiar to the generation
that fled from it two centuries ago. The
streets, for the most part narrow and tortuous,
derive a quaint and somber aspect from the long
l)orches or arcades that border them on either
side. Opening upon this covered side-walk, the
entrance to a Huguenot dwelling of the olden
time was often distinguishable by some pious
inscription, frequently a text of Scripture, or a
verse from Marot's psalms, to be read over the

' New York Colonial Manuscripts. Vol. XV., fol. 12, 106,
107, 138.

2 74 LA ROCHELLE.

Chap^ V. door-way. Some of these Inscriptions are still
1 66 1- legible. Small, and severely plain, this door-way
1681. led often to a dwelling that abounded with evi-
dences of wealth and taste ; the upper stories of
which were ornamented, both within and with-
out, by rich carvings in wood and stone.

Approached from the sea, La Rochelle presents
much the same appearance as of old : with its
outer and inner port, separated by a narrow pas-
sage, on either side of which rise the massive
forts of Saint Nicolas and La Chaine.' A rem-
.st. nant of the ancient wall of the city connects the
and latter structure with the yet loftier tower of La
Lanterne. Lauteme, Originally built to serve as a beacon
for ships seeking the harbor, but used in times
of persecution as a prison of state. Looming
up above the tiat, marshy coast, the long line of
which extends in unrelieved monotony as far as
the eye can see, these monuments of the past
remain, scarcely more gray and timeworn, per-
haps, than they appeared in the days of Louis
XIV. and his fleeing Protestant subjects.

It was among these scenes and associations,
that the generation soon to escape from La Ro-
chelle— the young Bernons, Faneuils, Baudouins,
Allaires, Manigaults — grew up. The streets and
squares, and the quays where the great commer-
cial houses still maintained themselves, though
in diminished state, had witnessed manv events

' " Nous perdimes de veiie les grosses tours et la ville de
la Rochelle. puis les lies de Rez et d'Oleron, disant Adieu a
la France." — Lescarbot.

i68i.

HISTORIC ASSOCIATIONS. 275

of stirring interest. The house was yet standing, chap. v.
where Henry of Navarre, a boy of fifteen, re- ,66,-
sided, when he came with his noble mother,
Jeanne d'Albret, at the beginning of the third
civil war, to take refuge in the city that had just
espoused the Protestant cause. The house of
Guiton, the heroic mayor during the siege of
1628, was still pointed out. Nearly every dwell-
ing, indeed, must have had its legends of heroism
and of suffering, connected with that memorable
siege, when twenty-five thousand, out of a popu-
lation of thirty thousand, perished of hunger ;
and when, under those gloomy porches, the
dead lay in heaps, and the living, emaciated
beyond recognition, moved in mournful silence.
The city walls, so bravely defended, had long
since disappeared, but their outline could be
traced then as now. Here was the site of "le
the famous bastion de I'Evangile, which bore de
the brunt of so many assaults, in the earlier gik/^'
siege, that at length the royal troops re-
fused to approach it : and there was the spot
where, from the wall which had since been
leveled to the ground, the women and children
poured boiling pitch from a huge caldron upon
the assailants. Many of the localities possess-
ing such historic interest were associated also
with the personal and domestic historj' of our
Huguenots, One of the houses owned by
Pierre Jay, at the time of his escape from
P'rance, w^as situated hard by the Lanterne
tower. The home of Ester Le Roy, Gabriel
Bernon's wife, faced upon the royal palace, once

276 LA ROCHELLE.

Chap. V. the town-hall of the Rochellese, in the days of
1661- their freedom and prosperity ; and the property
1681. which she brought to her husband in dower, lay
near the pre dc Maitbcc, where, in the early
times of Protestantism, the Calvinists, when ex-
cluded from the city, used to meet for worship.
The field, or common, known as the pre de
Ma2tbcc, now lay within the city limits, and was
included in the quarter of the Ville neuve, or
The Pre new town. Here stood the Huguenot prec/ie,
Maubec. or meeting house, until destroyed after the
Revocation, It was a structure much less im-
posing than the " Grand Temple," but it was
spacious, and it had been for fifty years " the
gate of heaven," to the pious religionists of La
Rochelle. The chief, if not the only external
ornament of this house of worship, was a finel)^
sculptured stone, over the main entrance, dis-
playing the arms of the kings of France and of
Navarre. Within, distinguished from the plain
The benches that accommodated the rest of the
worshipers, were high seats, provided for the
magistrates of the city, the ministers, and the
members of the Consistory : and on the wall
near the pulpit was a tablet, the admiration
doubtless of our American refugees in their
childhood, inscribed with the Ten Command-
ments of the Law of God, in letters of gold
upon a blue ground. A large bell convoked the
assemblies on Sunday and on other days of ob-
servance : — a privilege enjoyed by very few of
the Reformed congregations in France.

Conspicuous among the faithful who, in the

" Preche.

r-.^-^f^ 1

1'^ Cv

BERNON AND JAY.

277

The

Bernons

La
Bocbelle.

days before the Revocation, frequented the chap. v,
Huguenot meetings in tho. pre dc Matibec, wQ.x:(t 1681.
Andre Bernon and Pierre Jay, The former be-
longed to a family of great antiquity, that origi-
nated in Burgundy, and traced back its lineage
to the earliest centuries of the French mon-
archy. The Bernons claimed to be a younger
branch of the house of the counts of Burgundy ;
resting the claim upon the similarity of their
armorial bearings,' and the fact that their name
was borne by several of the princes of that
house. But the Bernons of La Rochelle possessed
an independent claim to nobility ; for they had
furnished several mayors to the city ; and ac-
cording to ancient usage, this office conferred
such rank upon the occupant and upon his heirs
forever. " I might have remained in France,"
wrote Gabriel Bernon, the refugee, in his old
age, "and kept my property, my quality, and
my titles, if I had been willing to submit to
slavery." For many generations, the family
had been prosperous and influential. In the
sixteenth century, they are mentioned as con-
tributing for the ransom of the sons of Fran-
cis I., held as hostages by Spain after the bat-
tle of Pavia ; and as sending a sum of money
to Henry IV., by the hands of Duplessis-
Mornay, to assist him in gaining his crown. The
Bernons of La Rochelle were among the first in

•The Bernon arms are — "d'azuraun chevron d'argent
surmonte d'un croissant de meme, accompagne en chef de
deux etoiles d'or, et en pointe d'un ours passant de meme."
(Filleau.)

[542.

2/8 LA ROCHELLE.

Chap. V. that city to embrace the Reformed religion.'
The branch of the family to which Andre be-
longed, was distinguished as that of Bernon de
Bernonville, a designation which was now worn
by his elder brother Leonard, Another branch,
known as the Bernons de la Bernoniere,
seigneurs de I'lsleau, was also attached to
the Protestant faith. -

' Their fidelity to that faith continued through the
times of persecution that introduced and followed the Rev-
ocation. During the eighteenth century, " this family formed
the nucleus of Protestantism in La Rochelle. It was in the
Bernon dwelling that the Reformed were accustomed to
meet for the celebration of their religious services. These
meetings were not avowed, but they were known to exist,
and generally they were tolerated. Whenever new orders
from the government brought about a revival of persecution,
the meetings wrapped themselves in the deepest secrecy ;
but they never ceased entirely, during the period in which
that worship was denied a liberty recognized by the laws."
— (The late M. L. Delayant, librarian of the Bibliotheque
de la Rochelle, in a letter to the author, October i8, 1878.)

'■ Bernon : famille habitant la Rochelle, apres avoir em-
brasse I'heresie de Calvin, n' a jamais voulu se faire re-
habiliter ; elle a toujours ete riche et consideree." — (Filleau,
Diet. hist, et gen. des fam. de I'anc. Poitou, s. zk)

^ ".Xhe name De Bernon is found in the year 1191, in the
lisT of families who had representatives in the crusades to
the Holy Land." " Transplanted into various provinces of
western France, the family originated in Burgundy. It con-
siders itself to be a younger branch of the house of the counts
of Burgundy, resting this belief upon the name, which was
borne by several of those princes, from the year 895, and
upon the conformity of its armorial bearings with those that
were borne at an early day by the counts of INIacon. From
the fourteenth century, and beginning with Raoul de Bernon,
the house of Bernon possesses all the documents necessary
to establish its filiation."

" The house of Bernon has formed alliances with some of
the most illustrious families of the kingdom ; it has rendered
military services that have not been without distinction ;

THE SEIGNEURS DE MONTONNEAU. 279

The ancestors of Pierre Jay had come to La chap. v,
Rochelle from the province of Poitou. Not im- 1565.
probably, they belonged to the family of that
name, the seigneurs de Montonneau, whose seat
was at Chateau-Garnier, near Civray, in Upper
Poitou. As early, however, as the year 1565,
Jehan Jay, who had embraced the Protestant
faith, was residing in La Rochelle. Gabriel

Gabriel Manigault, the father of Pierre and auit.
Gabriel, who settled in South Carolina, was the

and it counts among its members sujierior officers of the
greatest merit, both military and naval. It has had several
chevaliers of the order of Saint Louis." — Livre d'Or de la
Nof)lesse de France.

According to the pedigree traced by IvI. Henri Fillcau,
Dictionnaire historique et genealogique des families de
I'ancien Poitou, Raoul Bernon,"\vho served with distinction in
the wars of his time," married Charlotte de Talmont, and had
a son Nicolas, chosen mayor of La Rochelle in 1357. K'an,
son of Nicolas, was chosen mayor in 1398. Jean-Thomas,
son of Jean, founded the iwo i^e/ifilhom?nibes, or manors, of
" Bernoniere" and " Bernonviile." The former derived its
name from a small chateau near Pouzauges, in the province
of Poitou, (now in the department of Vendee,) and the latter
from a chateau on the island of Re. Jean-Thomas left a
son Andre, who had two sons, Pierre, sieur de la Bernoniere
et risleau, and Jean. The latter, Jean, second son of
Andre, had a son Andre. M. Filleau has not followed out
the line of descent through Jean and Andre, the younger
branch of the family ; but from this point the line of
descent is traced by M. Crassous as follows : Andre Bernon
married Catharine Du Bouche in 1545. Their son Leonard
married Francoise Carre, in 1578, and had two sons, Jean,
sieur de Ber'nouville, and Andre. The younger, Andre,
married (i) Jeanne Lescour, and (2) Marie Papin in 1605,
and had two sons, Leonard, sieur de Bernonville, and Andre,
to whom reference is made in the text, and who was the
father of Gabriel Bernon, the refugee.— (Gen^alogie de la
famille Bernon, a la Rochelle, dressee par M. Joseph Cras-
sous, 1782.)

28o LA ROCHELLE.

Chap. V. descendant of one of the earliest converts to

1559. Protestantism in Aunis. Among the first bap-
tisms performed by a Protestant pastor in La
Rochelle, was that of Sara, daughter of Jean
Manigault and Louise de Foix, his wife. Jean
was already one of the " anciens " or elders
of the infant church : and his house was

1560. ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ places where its meetings for wor-
March29 ^^^'P ^"^^^^ held in secret at this early period.

1665. A century later, Isaac Manigault acted as spon-
sor at the baptism of Augustus Jay.

The Baudouin family of La Rochelle —
whose name, in Massachusetts, has suffered the
change to Bowdoin — -was " one of the most
ancient and important" of that city.' Its dif-
ferent branches were known by designations
taken from the numerous scigjiciirics which they
^ , . possessed. Thev were descended from Pierre

Baudouin, ^ -'

sieurde Baudouin, ecuyer, sieur de la Laione, who mar-

la Laigue, . , o '

ried the daughter of Jean Bureau, mayor of La
Rochelle in 1448. The Baudouins were among
the first disciples of the Reformed faith in
that city. Several members of this family
distinguished themselves by their services to the
Protestant cause during the civil wars. At the
period of the Revocation, one of its branches took
refuge in Prussia, another fled to the Nether-
lands, and a third escaped to England. It is
not known to which of these branches Pierre,
of Boston, belonged.

Another ancient family, which had long

' La France Protestante, deuxieme edition, s. v.

ALLAIRE AND FANEUIL. 281

been identified with the Huguenot cause, and chap. v.
which indeed has maintained its fidcHty to 1681.
that cause to the present day, was that of Al-
laire.' This house was represented in the
Huguenot congregation, as it existed at the time
of the Revocation, by several prominent mem-
bers. Antoine, sieur du Bugnon : Jean, royal sec-
retary, and Henri, counselor and lieutenant gen-
eral in admiralty, were brothers. Descended from
a younger branch of the same family was Pierre
Allaire, whose son Alexandre came to America.
Benjamin Faneuil, a Huguenot merchant of
La Rochelle, had married Andre Bernon's
dauofhter Marie. His brother Pierre was the
father of Benjamin, Jean and Andre Faneuil,
who emiofrated to America after the Revocation.
A branch of this family, that had settled at
Saintes in the province of Saintonge, took
refuse after the Revocation in Eno^land.^

' La France Protestante, deuxieme edition, s. v.

' For the following pedigree of the Faneuil family of La
Rochelle, I am indebted to the learned genealogist M.
Louis Marie Meschinet de Richemond, archiviste de la
Charente-Inferieure.

Benjamin Faneuil, born in 1593, married Suzanne de
I'Espine in 1616, and died in 1677. Mis son Pierre, born
in 16 1 S, married Marie Cousseau in 1640, and had two
sons, Benjamin, Avho married Marie Bernon, and Pierre,
who married Marie Depont. Pierre and Marie Faneuil
had three sons, Benjamin, Jean and Andre, and two
daughters, Suzanne, who married Abraham de la Croix,
and Jeanne, who married Pierre Cossart.

Benjamin Faneuil married Anne Bureau, July 28,1699, and
died in New York, March 31, 1719, aged fifty years and eight
months. Jean Faneuil died in La Rochelle, June 24, 1737.
Andre [Andrew] Faneuil died in Boston, February 13,
1737-

282 LA ROCHELLE.

Chap. V. The SIgourney family bore the name of a
i6Si. locahty in the province of Poitou, where not im-
probably they may have originated.' They
were represented at this period by Andre
Sigourney, then in middle life, who according to
The the family record " was comfortably settled at
^ney^" '^^' •"^^^-^ Rochelle when the Edict of Nantes was
revoked."

Andre Laurent, the ancestor of a noted family
of South Carolina, was at this time living in the
parish of Saint Sauveur, with his mother,
Elisabeth Menigaut, the widow of Jean Laur-
ent, formerly a merchant of the city. Marie
Lucas, the young Huguenot girl who was
to join her fortunes with his, before seeking a
home in the New World, was likewise a native
of La Rochelle. She was the daughter of
Daniel Lucas, a merchant. The friendly rela-
tions of the two families seem to have been of
long standing ; and young Laurent was doubt-
less a frequent visitor at Perigny, a short dis-
tance out of town, where Daniel Lucas had a
small farm.-

' Sigournais, now a hamlet of some eight liundred inhabit-
ants, in the department of Vendee, four miles from Chaton-
nay. Near by is the chateau de Sigournais.

^ "Elizabeth Laurens, veuve," of the paroisse St. Sauveur,
is reported as having fled in 1682 to England. (Liste des
families de la religion pretendiie reformee qui sont sortis du
pays d'Aulnix, Isles, et costes de Xaintonge pour aller dans
lesdits pays estrangers depuis I'annee 16S1, jusquesa la fin
de May, 1685. Archives Nationales, [Paris] Tt. n°- 259.)
The same document mentions that *' Le Sr. Daniel Lucas,
marchand, sa femme et 4 enfants," took refuge, the same
year, in England. " II a une borderie a Perigny, dont son

THE "NOBLESSE." 283

Jean and Josue David, represented "one of chap. v.
the best families of La Rochelle : a family," ac- ^^^
cording to La France Protestante, " not less
distinguished by reason of the positions which
its members have filled, than eminent for the
services it had rendered." In 1572, Jean David,
"pair du corps de ville," was appointed with two
others to visit England, for the purpose of
soliciting the help of Queen Elizabeth, and of
hastening Montgomery's departure with the
promised fleet for the relief of the besieged
city. In 1628, Jacques David, who had twice
been mayor, was sent with Philippe Vincent upon
a similar embassy to Charles II., and succeeded in
influencing the king to sign a treaty with the
Protestants. Jean and Josue David came to
New York after the Revocation.

Among the members of the "noblesse" of me
Aunis that continued faithful to the Huguenot ^l^
cause, in these days of augmenting persecution,
were several who afterwards formed part of the
emieration to South Carolina. Paul Bruneau
de Rivedoux, ' ecuyer, son of Arnaud Bruneau,

l^ere jouit." Daniel Lucas, Mary, Augustus, James, and
Peter, children, were naturalized in England, March 8, 1682.
(Lists of naturalized Denizens: in Protestant Exiles from
France in the Reign of Louis XIV. By the Rev. David C.
A. i\gnew. London : 1874. Vol. II L, p. 33.) Andre
Laurent, natif de la Rochelle, fils de feu Jean Laurent et
Elizabeth Menigaut ; et Marie Lucas, aussi native de La
Rochelle, fille de Daniel Lucas et feu Jeanne Marchand,
were married in London, Feb. 22, 1688. (Records of the
French Church in Threadneedle Street, London.)

' Rivedoux, a little seaport on the island of Re, at the
point nearest to the mainland.

" Le fils aine du Sr Rivedou, ecuyer, son frere et 2 soeurs,"

Rivedoux.

284 LA ROCHELLE.

Chap. V. sieur de la Chabossiere ; ' Henri Bruneau, ecuyer,
1681. son of Henri Bruneau de la Chabossiere ; Henri
Auguste Chastaignier, ecuyer, seigneur de Cra-
mahe,^ and Alexandre Thesee Chastaignier,
ecuyer, seigneur de I'lsle, were all born in La
Rochelle. Paul Bruneau was the grandson of
Jean Bruneau, counselor, an eminent citizen,
whose family obtained patents of nobility in the
middle of the seventeenth century.^ He was
accompanied in his flight to America by his
nephew Henri, son of his deceased brother
Arnaud. Henri and Alexandre Chastaignier
were the sons of Roch Chastaignier, ecuyer.
The name belonged to a distinguished house,
that traced its lineage back uninterruptedly to the
eleventh century.-* It was early and honorably
identified with the Protestant cause in western
France.^ Philippe Chastaignier, the abbess of a
nunnery in Poitou, entered into correspondence
with Calvin, in 1549, with the purpose of aband-
oning the cloister, and professing the evangelical
faith ; a purpose which she carried out, together
with eight of her nuns, leaving only one in

are mentioned in the Liste des families de la religion pre-
tendue reformee, etc. " Annee de leur depart, 1682. Lieu
de leur retraite, Angleterre ou Danemark."

' The chateau of La Chaboissiere is near La Villedieu, ten
miles south of Poitiers, in Poitou.

^ The chateau of Cramahe is about five miles southeast of
La Rochelle.

^ Filleau, Diet. hist, et gen. des fam. de Pane. Poitou, I.,
p. 509. — La France Protestante, j'. v.

* Filleau, Diet. hist, et gen., L, p. 612.

'' La France Protestante, III., p. 297.

BRUNEAU AND CHASTAIGNIRR. 285

the convent.' The Chastalgniers who went to chap. v.
South CaroHna, were descended from a branch jgsi
of this family, established in La Rochelle, three
members of which filled the office of mayor of
the city/

' Lievre, Hist, des protestants et des eglises ref. du Poitou,
I., p. 49.

^ Filleau, Diet. hist, et gen., I., p. 623.

The list of French and Swiss refugees in Carolina wishing
to be naturalized as Englisli, (Liste des Francois et Suisses
Refugiez en Caroline qui souhaittent d'etre naturalizes An-
glois,) about the year 1695, contains these names : Paul Bru-
neau de Revidoux, Ecuyer, fils de defunt Arnaud Bruneau
de la Chabossiere, Ecuyer, et de [blank] de la Chabossiere,
natif de la Rochelle, province d'Onis. Henry Bruneau, fils
de defunt Henry de Bruneau de la Chabossiere, Ecuyer, et
de Marie de la Chabossiere, ne a la Rochelle, province
d'Onis. Henry Auguste Chatagner, Ecuyer, Alexandre
Thesee Chatagner, fils de defunt Roch Chatagner, Ecuyer,
et de Jeanne de Chatagner, nez a la Rochelle: province
d'Onis. Elizabeth Chatagner, femme du susdit Alexandre
Thesee Chatagner, fille de Pierre Buretel et d'Elizabeth
Buretel. Alexandre Chatagner, Elizabeth Madeleine Cha-
tagner, enfans des susdits, nez en Caroline. — (Habitants de
Santee.)

Paul and Henry Bruneau, and Henry Augustus Chastaig-
ner de Craniahe, had already, while in England, obtained
letters of naturalization, March 20, 1686, and April 15,
1687. — (List of naturalized Denizens, in Agnew's Protest-
ant Exiles from France, Vol. HI., Pp. 41, 42.)

Arneau Bruneau, the father of Paul and Henry, probably
came to South Carolina with his sons, and died there soon
after. In the Secretary of State's office, Charleston, S. C,
there is record of a deed of contract executed in London,
February 25th, 1686, between Arnold Bruneau, seigneur of
Chaboissiere, and Paul Bruneau, lord of Ruedoux^-fRive-
doux,] of the one part, and Josias Marylan, lord of La
Forcet, of the other part, for the erection of a mill in South
Carolina ; the said mill to be erected on the land of either
party without prejudice to the interests of the other. — (His-
tory of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina. By
George Howe, D.D. Vol. L, p. loi.)

286 LA ROCHELLE.

CLap. V. David and EHe Papin belonged to an ancient
i6Si. Huguenot family of La Rochelle. One of the
name had served as deacon in 1561 : another as
minister of the church in 1612:' and more re-
cently, " le sieur Papin " — whether David or Elie
was intended or not, does not appear — had offi-
ciated as public " reader," or clerk, in the services
of the " temple" of the Ville neuve.^ Both be-
came prominent members of the P^rench refugee
church in New York.

Daniel Robert removed from La Rochelle to
Daniel the island of Martinique at the time of the Rev-
° ^^*" ocation, with his wife Susanne La Tour. About
the end of the seventeenth century, he came to
New York, where his posterity have resided.
He had left a considerable estate in France ; and
for years, it is said, after his arrival in America,
he received legal notice from time to time,
summoning him to appear at the door of a
certain church, and show cause, if any he had,
why certain lands or tenements in that city or
in its vicinity should not be confiscated to
the king, or conveyed to other members of

' La Rochelle Protestante. Recherches politiques et re-
ligieuses : 11 26-1 792. Par P.-S. Callot. La Rochelle, 1863.
Pp. 95, 134.

'^ " Le S"". Papin, ci-dev*. lecteur au preche," residhig in
the paroisse S*. Sauveur, in La Rochelle, fled in 1681, with
his wife and four little children, leaving a house in town,
and took refuge in the island of Guernsey. (Liste des
families de la R. P. R., etc.: Archives Nationales, Tx. n".
259.) David Pa])in, "marchand," is mentioned among
"fugitifs de la Roclielle, 4 Octobre, 1685." — (L'Eglise Re-
form^e de La Rochelle. Etude historique. Par L.Del-
raas, pasteur. Toulouse : 1870. P. 394)

ROCHELLESE EMIGRANTS TO BOSTON. 287

the Robert family remaining in La Rochelle.' Chap. v.
The late Christopher R. Robert of New York, i^Si,,
distinguished for his munificent charities, and
particularly for the founding of Robert College,
Constantinople, was a descendant of this refugee
In the fourth oreneratlon.

There were other worshipers in the Protest-
ant "preche" of La Rochelle, before the Rev-
ocation, who bore names that have become as
household words on this side of the Atlantic.
It will be proper to make mention of them here.
In passing, while reserving fuller accounts for
the volumes of this work that will relate to the
places where the Rochellese emigrants to Amer-
ica eventually settled.

Amono; the fuoitives from La Rochelle who
came to Massachusetts, were Louis Allaire,^
Pierre Baudouin, Gabriel Bernon, Francois Bu-
reau, Gabriel and Jacques Depont,^ Andre and
Benjamin Faneuil, Henri Gulonneau, Jacob Pel-
oquin, and Andre Sigourney. A larger number
established themselves In the province of New
York. The following persons became residents
of the city of New York: Jean Auboyneau,*

' " On these occasions, although he was not easily roused
to anger, he would become very angry, and for a while be
much agitated, tearing the papers indignantly to pieces, and
throwing them into the fire." — (Family record.)

^ Son of Jean Allaire and Jeanne Bernon, of La Rochelle.
— (Allaire Genealogy.)

' Nephews of Gabriel Bernon, whose sister Suzanne mar-
ried Paul de Pont, of La Rochelle. — (Bernon Papers and
Genealogy.)

* Le nom d'une famille de La Rochelle qui y fut des pre-
mieres a embrasserlesprincipes de la Reforme. — (La France

288 LA ROCHELLE.

chap.v. Daniel Bernardeau/ Marie Billard, widow of
1681. Etienne Jamain,^ Jeanne Boisselet, wife of Jean
Carouge/' Pierre and Samuel Bourdet/ Pierre
Chaigneau,5 Jean and Josue David, Benja-
min D'Harriette,^ Etienne Doucinet/ Augusta

Protestante.) Louis, married in 1573, had a son Louis,
pastor of several churches, among them the church of La
Rochelle (1607-1610). He died in 166S, leaving several
sons, one of whom, Pierre, had a son Pierre, born in 1672,
and a son Jean, born in 1674. (Ibid.) Jean Auboyneau was
in New York in 1697.

' A Rochellese family. Daniel Bernardeau and Marie
Monier, his wife, were in New York in 1701.

"^ Marie Billard, veufue d'Estienne Jamain de la Rochelle,
died in New York May 5, 1689.

^ Invoice of goods found in the house of John Carrouge,
deceased April 5, 1689. — (Wills, Surrogate's Office, New
York. No. 14. Pp. 167, 168.) Enterrement, 6 Avril, 1689,
Jeanne Boisselet, femme du sieur Carrouge, native de laro"''
[La Rochelle] en le Royaume de France. — (Records of the
French Reformed Church of New York.)

* Pierre and Samuel Bourdet were members of the French
Church in New York, as early as the year 1689, when Samuel
was the husband of Judith Piaud, of La Rochelle. — (See
below.) Comp. Estienne Bourdet, one of tlie fugitives from
La Rochelle in 1685.

^ Pierre Chaigneau (liste des religionnaires fugitifs de La
Rochelle dont les biens ont ete saisis, 1685-1688 ; quoted by
Delmas, I'Eglise Reformee de la Rochelle, p. 395). Peter
Chaigneau, naturalized in England, March 21, 1688. — (Ag-
new, III., 49.) He was made freeman of the city of New
York, May 29, 1691. Pieter Chaigneaig, van Rochel, married
Aeltje Smit, in the Dutch Church, New York, May 13, 1693,

" " Famille de fervents protestants rochelois." — (La France
Protestante, I. p. 724.) Benjamin d'Harriette was the
son of Susanne Papin, by her first husband, Benjamin d'Har-
riette, of La Rochelle. She married in London, November
9, 1686, Elie Boudinot, veuf, (Livredes Mariages de I'Eglise
francoise de la Savoye,) with whom she came to New York,
accompanied by her son, who was made freeman of the city
in 1700.

' " Le nomme Doucinet," and wife, of the paroisse St.

EMIGRANTS TO NEW YORK. 289

and Marie Grasset/ Marie Anne Guichard/ chap. v.
Rene Het, ^ Guillaume Huertin, ^ Frangois Hul- 1681.
lin,s Augusta Lucas, Auguste Jay, Gabriel Le

Sauveur, La Rochelle, fled to England in 1682. — (Liste des
families de la R. P. R., etc., Archives Nationales, Tx. n*".
259.) Stephen Doussiner, Susan, 7i'///>, Mary and Marianne
children, were naturalized in England, March 8, 1682.
— (Agnew, III., 31.) They were in New York November 4,
1688.

' Augustus and Mary Grasset, naturalized in England,
March 8, 1682, came as early as 16S9 to New York, where
Grasset became a leading merchant and government ofificial,
and one of the " chefs de famille " of the French Church.
He was murdered in the negro insurrection, April 7, 1712.
Marianne Grasset, " van Rochel," was married in the
Dutch Church, New York, April 30, 1692, to Henri de
Money, "met attestatie van de Fransche Kercke."

^ Marie Guichard and sister, of the paroisse St. Bar-
thelemy. La Rochelle, fled in 1684 to England. — (Arch.
Nat., Tt.) Marie Anne Guichard, French Church, New
York, March 6, 1706.

^ Son of Josue and Sarah Het, of La Rochelle. He was
a merchant of New York, and agent in that city, with
Andre Fresneau, of the Royal West Indies Company of
France. — (Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan ; in Historical Magazine,
new series, vol. lA''., p. 266.)

* Guilleaume Huertin, maistre de navire, demeurant a
presant en cette ville, et cy-devant a la Rochelle, was mar-
ried in Bristol, England, by M. Descairac, January 2, 1698,
to Elizabeth Bertrand, veuve de Jean Bertrand, marinier.
He was the son of le sieur Guilleaume Huertin, of La Ro-
chelle, maistre de navire du Roy, decede en ung voiage des
Indes ; and of Suzanne Croiset his wife.— (Registres de
I'Eglise Franfoise Protest*'. Episcop*'. de Bristol, Non-
Parochial Registers, etc. Foreign Churches. Somerset
House, London.) Guillaume Huertin came with his son
Guillaume, born in Bristol, November 12, 1699, to New York,
and died there in 17 18.

^ Francois Huslin and his wife, of the paroisse St. Bar-
thelemy. La Rochelle, fled to England in 1683. — (Arch. Nat.,
Tt.) He was naturalized there, July 2, 1684, and was
made a freeman of the city of New York, May 29, 1691.

290 LA ROCHELLE.

Chap. V. Boiteux/ Etienne Jamain,^ Fran9ois Louraux,'

i68^r Jacques Merie,* Paul Merlin, ^ Pierre Morin,^

(ancestor of John Morin Scott,) Elie Nezereau,^

His wife Elizabeth died Dec. 23, 1694. He died in Sep-
tember, 1702.

' Gabriel Le Boiteux, naturalized January 5, 1688, made
freeman of the city of New York, August 3, 1688, was perhaps
a brother of Paul and Pierre Le Boiteux, fugitives from La
Rochelle, whose goods were seized February 4, 1685, and
who established themselves as merchants in Amsterdam.
Gabriel became a prominent merchant in New York, and
was one of the first Elders of the French Church (in 1688).

* Etienne, Arnaiid, Nicolas, and perhaps Elie, sons of
Etienne Jamain, marchand de la Rochelle, were in New
York at an early day. Etienne was high constable in 1705 ;
Elie in 1710. Nicolas was one of the '* diets de famille "
of the French Church in 1704.

^ Frangois Louraux, natif de la Rochelle, decede le 22
Juin, 1689, was interred in the cemetery of the French
Church in New York.

* Jacques Merie, or De ALaree, " van Rochel," was mar-
ried, November 27, 1692, in the Dutch Church of New York,
to Cornelia Roos, widow of Elias Provoost.

^ Paul Merlin, born at Rochelle, was naturalized in New
York, September 27, 1687.

^ Pierre Morin, natif de la Rochelle, France, fils de
Pierre Morin, marchand au dit lieu, married Marie Jamain,
June 12, 1692, in the French Church in New York. He
was naturalized in England, October 10, 1688, with his first
wife Frances, and was made freeman of New York, June 11,
1691. Three sons and four daughters were baptized in the
French Church.

' Born in La Rochelle [1639] : died in New York, March
28, 1719, aged eighty years. — (Inscription upon his tomb-
stone, in Trinity Church-yard, New York.) He was natural-
ized in England, March 20, 1686, and came over in the ship
Robert, with pasteur Peiret, in October, 1687. He was made
freeman of New York, December 5, 1687. He was engaged
in trade with the West Indies, and died in Kingston,
Jamaica, in March, 1709, leaving by will fifty pounds to the
Elders of the French Reformed Protestant congregation in
New York, for the use of the ])oor. A former will mentioned
his nephews James, Martin and Lewis, his cousin Elias Neze-
reau, and his deceased niece, Jane Barbauld, of London.

EMIGRANTS TO NEW ROCHELLE. 291

David and EHe Papin, Etienne Perdriau," chap. v.
Gedeon, son of Alexandre Petit, ^ Jeanne 1681.
Piaud, wife of Simeon Soumain, Judith Piaud,
wife of Samuel Bourdet,^ Daniel Robert and
Jean Sevenhoven/ The settlers of New Ro-
chelle, in Westchester county, New York, were,
as it might be presumed, for the most part
Rochellese. The leading member of the settle-
ment was Alexandre Allaire, of whom mention
has already been made. With him were associ-
ated Louis Bonneau,5 Jean Bouteiller,'^ Jacques

' Daniel Perdriau, of La Rochelle, was a refugee in Cork,
Ireland, in 1695. — (Registre du Temple de Soho, Somerset
House, London.) Etienne, Elizabeth, and Marie Perdriau,
were members of the French Church in New York, 1689-
1699. Stephen, mariner, was made freeman in 1702.

' Will proved in New York, March 20, 1688.

^ La veuve Piaud, ses 3 filles et un neveu, de la paroisse
de St. Sauveur, La Rochefle, fled to England in 1681. — (Arch.
Nat, Tt.) Jeanne, probably one of the daughters, was mar-
ried to Simeon Soumain before coming to America ; their
son Simon was baptized in the French Church in Thread-
needle street, London, June 10, 1685. Judith, probably
another daughter, was married to Samuel Bourdet.

' Jean Sevenhoven, van Rochel, was married to Mary
Lescuye [L'Escuier], in the Dutch Church of New York,
September 22, 1693.

' Famille Rocheloise (La France Protestante). There is
no evidence that Louis was related to Antoine, of La Ro-
chelle, who went to South Carolina. (See below.) But the
baptismal name Louis was frequently given in the family
that remained in France. — (Callot, La Rochelle Protestante,
p. 105.)

* Born at Rochell.— (Act of Naturalization, New York,
September 27, 1687.) Boutellier was one of the founders of
the settlement of New Rochelle : but he left for the island
of St. Christopher, September, 1690, and died there in the
following year, leaving his lands in the settlement to his
godchild Jeanne, daughter of Alexandre Allaire.— (Town
Records of New Rochelle.)

292 LA ROCHELLE.

chap^v. Flandreau,' Daniel Gombaud,^ Jean Hastier,^

i68r. Bartholomew and Isaac Mercier/ Daniel Ray-

neau,5 Ambroise Sicard,*^ Andre and Peter

' Jacque Flandreaux, de la Rochelle, married in London,
December 15, 1695, Madeleine Mesnard, de la ville de
Saintes. — (Registre des Baptemes et Manages dans I'Eglise
de Glass House street et de Leicesterfields. Somerset
House.) He was in New Rochelle in 1698.

■ Daniel Gombaud, born at Rochell. — (Act of Natural-
ization, New York, September 27, 1687.) He settled in
New Rochelle before 1693. Like his namesake, perhaps
kinsman, Moses Gombeau, (see above, p. 234) he had resided
in Guadeloupe before coming to America. He was accom-
panied to New York by Agnes Constance Le Brun, ''born
at Guadeloupe," who afterwards became the second wife
of Gabriel Le Boiteux.

^ John Hastier, born at Rochell. — (Act of Naturalization,
etc.) He, or another Jean Hastier, had resided in the
island of St. Christopher. He was one of the early settlers
of New Rochelle, but removed to New York in 1694 or
1695, and was made freeman of that city, August 26, 1695.
He died about the year 1698.

^ Isaac Mercier, born at Rochell, was naturalized in New
York, Sept. 27. 1687. He had obtained denization the year
before, Sept. 3, 1686. — (Act of Naturalization, etc.) He
became a leading member of the settlement of New Ro-
chelle. Bartholomew, perhaps his brother, arrived in the
province two years earlier, coming from Boston " to settle
in the city " of New York.

^ Daniel Rayneau, the ancestor of the Renaud family in
America, is believed to have emigrated from La Rochelle. —
(History of Westchester County, N. Y., by the Rev. Robert
Bolton. Revised Edition. Vol. II., page 757.) He first
went to Bristol, England. A Bible in the possession of one
his descendants contains this statement : " Memoire du jour
que nous avons parti de Bristol ce fut le sixieme d'Avril
1693."

'' Ambroise Sicard was a refugee from La Rochelle —
(History of Westchester County, etc., II., 758), who came
to America with his three sons, Ambroise, Daniel and
Jacques. The Records of the French Church in New York
begin with the entry of the baptism of Madelaine, daugliter
of Ambroise Sicard [junior] and Jeanne Perron, his wife,
November 24, 1688. The Sicards settled in New Rochelle
as early as the year 1692,

SETTLERS IN ULSTER COUNTY. 293

Thauvet/ Jacob Theroulde/ Of the settlers chap. v.
of Ulster County, New York, Jean and Etienne i^sj
Gascherle,^ and Jean Thevenin, were from La
Rochelle. Several members of the Huguenot
family of L'Hommedieu fled from La Rochelle
after the Revocation. Pierre and Osee, or
Hosea, were the sons of Pierre L'Hommedieu
and Marthe Peron his wife. The husband died
before the year 1685. Marthe accompanied her
children to Eng-land, and came to America with
Pierre, who settled in Kingston, Ulster County,
New York.'* Benjamin and John L'Hommedieu,

' Andrew Thauvet, born at Rochelle, was naturalized in
New York, September 27, 1687. — (Actof Naturalization, etc.)
He was one of the first purchasers of land in New Rochelle,
November 12, 1688, and with Peter Thauvet bought one thou-
sand acres, May 31, 1690. He was appointed a justice of the
peace, December 14, 1689. Peter Thauvet, merchant, was
made freeman of the city of New York, June 24, 1701. He
married Susanne Vergereau, May 29, 1700, and died in 1704.

^ " Jacob Theroulde, born at Rochell, Sarah, his wife,
Marianne and Dorothy, their daughters, born at the island
of St. Christopher's," were naturalized in New York, Sep-
tember 27, 1687. — (Act, etc.) Theroulde had obtained
denization in New York, with liberty to trade or traffic, the
year before, June 14, 1686. He purchased lands in New
Rochelle as early as 1690, but in 1701 sold them, and went
back to St. Christopher. His wife Sarah was a daughter of
Gerard and Allette Douw, of that island.

^ Several of this name are mentioned among the fugitives
from La Rochelle. John and Stephen, sons of Judith Gas-
cherie, were naturalized in England, April 15, 1687, and
came to Kingston, N. Y., as early as 1696.

' Marthe Peron, veuve de Pierre L'Hommedieu ; 29 Sep-
tembre, 1685. Osee L'Hommedieu ; 4fevrier, 1685 — (Liste
des religionnaires fugitifs de la Rochelle dont les biens ont
ete saisis ; 1685-1688.) Osee, goldsmith, son of Pierre and
Marthe L'Hommedieu, was in London in 1702. The will of
Pieter L'Hommedieu, late of Kingstown, Ulster County,

294 -A ROCHELLE.

chap^iii. "born at Rochell," were naturalized in New
1681. York, September 27, 1787. Benjamin had ob-
tained letters of denization some months before.
He settled on the east end of Long Island, in
the village of Southold, and married the daughter
of Nathanael Silvester, of Shelter Island/

Of the settlers of Staten Island, several were
natives of this city." So, too, were Pierre and
Moise Chaille,3 of Maryland, Antoine Duche,'*

New York, signed February 10, 1691-2, and proved March
30, 1692, mentions his mother Martha. (Wills, Surrogate's
Office, New York ; No. IV., p. 181.) He leaves property
in trust "till Mr. August Jea [JayJ doth returne." Auguste
Jay, his partner in business, was then in France.

'Hosea L'Hommedieu fled from La Rochelle several
months previous to the flight of his brother Pierre and their
mother Marthe. Perhaps he was accompanied by Benjamin
and Jean, who may have been his brothers. The interesting
tradition among the descendants of Benjamin L'Homme-
dieu agrees perfectly with these facts. " Benjamin and a
brother left France together. Their widowed mother went
with them to the shore at La Rochelle, and as a parting gift
confided to one a Bible, and to the other a silver watch.
They fled to Holland, and thence came to America. The
watch is now in the possession of Professor Eben Norton
Horsford, of Harvard University." (Communicated by the
Reverend A. S. Gardiner, a descendant of Benjamin L'Hom-
medieu.)

A monument in memory of Nathanael Sylvester has been
recently erected on Shelter Island, by the daughters of Pro-
fessor Horsford, descendants of Benjamin L'Hommedieu
and of Patience Sylvester, his wife.

* Among them Etienne Mahault, who had been for some
time an inhabitant of St. Christopher. He died on Staten
Island in 1703.

^ The name occurs among the "persecutes en Aunis," in
1681, under the intendant Demuin. — (Benoist, V. 1021.)
La France Protestante mentions the famille de Challais, of
La Rochelle, 1679. The tradition of the Chaille family in
America is, that Pierre Chaille escaped from La Rochelle on

ANTOINE PINTARD. 295

of Pennsylvania, Antoine Pintard/ of New Jer- chap. v.

board of an English vessel, and took refuge in England,
[where he was naturalized Sept. 9, 1698,] that he was the
spokesman chosen by his fellow-refugees to refuse a message
addressed to them by Louis XIV., inviting them to return to
France ; that he entered the English navy ; that while in
England he married a lady of Huguenot birth, named Mar-
garet Brown ; and that he removed to America, establishing
himself at first in Boston. His son, Moses Chaille, as early
as 1 7 ID, was a resident of Maryland, where his descendants
are to be found at present. (Communicated by Professor
Stanford E. Chaille, M.D., of the University of Louisiana.)

* Jacques Duche, paroisse St. Sauveur, La Rochelle, fled
to England in 1682, with his wife and eight children, and
his son-in-law. He had a house in town. — (Arch. Nat.) He
was naturalized in England, March 8, 1682, with his wife
Mary, and his sons Arnold and Anthony.

' According to the family tradition, Antoine Pintard
came from La Rochelle. His petition for denization, ad-
dressed in 1691 to the governor and council of New York.
" sheweth, that he being a Native of the Kingdome of
France, was by the severity used by that prince towards
those of the Reformed Churches oblidged to depart that
Relme." Since that time, being the space of four years,
he has been an inhabitant of this his Majesty's government
of New York. — (Historical Manuscripts in the Office of the
Secretary of State, Albany, N. Y., Vol. XXXVH., page So.)
Pintard first settled in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, then within
the jurisdiction of the province of New York. There his
house took fire, and he lost all his property. He removed
to the city of New York, and began life anew as a merchant.
He was an Elder of the French Church in New York, and
in 1729 resigned the office of treasurer of the poor-fund
(regeveur des deniers des pauvres) which he had held until
then : " a cause de son grand age." He died about the
year 1732.— (Will of Anthony Pintard, Senior, late of
Shrewsbury, but now of the city of New York : dated
February 4, 1729; proved May 11, 1732.— Secretary of
State's Office, Trenton, New Jersey.)

Anthony Pintard left three sons— Anthony, John, and

•Samuel— and six daughters : Magdala, Catharine. Margaret,

Isabella, Florinda, and Anna Frances. Magdala married

James Hutchins. (June 30, 1728, jour de I'ascension, Jacques,

son of Jacques and Magd. Hutchins, born in Shrewsbury,

1681.

296 LA ROCHELLE.

Chap. V. sey, Jean L'Orange/ and George de Rochelle,^

j68^ whose descendants settled in Virginia : while

of the South Carolina Huguenots, Jeanne Ber-

chaud,^ wife of Jean Boyd, Antoine Bonneau,''

New Jersey, in 1727, was baptized in the French Church,
New York.) Catharine married first John Searle, and
secondly the Rev. Robert Jenney. Margaret married Joseph
Leonard. Isabella married Isaac Van Dam. Florinda
married George Spencer. Anna Frances married Moses
Gombaud. (See above, p. 235.)

The marriage license of Anthony Pintard junior?) and
Katharine Staleboth, of Neversink in East Jersey, is dated
May 4, 1692. — (Wills, Surrogate's Office, New York ; No.
IV., p. 184.)

' La veuve du Sr Lorange, paroisse St. Sauveur, La Ro-
chelle, fled to England in 1682, leaving " quelque bien en
Poitou." — (Arch. Nat.) La veuve Lorange and Jean Vilas
L'Orange, were inhabitants of Manakinlown, Virginia, 1701,
1714.

' George de Rochelle, from La Rochelle or its neighbor-
hood, fled in the reign of Louis XIV. to the United Prov-
inces, and thence came to America. (Tradition.) George
Rupell was in South Carolina in the early part of the
eighteenth century. A son or grandson removed to Albe-
marle, Virginia. Descendants of the emigrant are to be
found in several of the Southern States.

^ Jeanne, femme de Jean Boyd, fille de Elie Berchaud de
la Rochelle, inhabitant of Santee, 1696. — (Liste des Fran-
cois et Suisses Refugiez en Caroline qui souhaittent d'etre
naturalizes Anglais.)

* Antoine Bonnaud, tonnelier ; sa femme : paroisse St.
Barthelemy, La Rochelle, fled in 16S5. Antoine Bonneau,
ne a la Rochelle, fils de Jean Bonneau et de Catherine Roi,
and Catherine du Bliss, his wife, applied to be naturalized,
1696, with Antoine and Jean-Henri, leurs enfans nez en
France. Jacob, leur fils ne en Caroline. — (Liste des Fran-
cois, Refugiez en Caroline, etc.) Anthony Bonneau, senior,
cooper, was "made free of this part of the province," by
the Lords Proprietors of South Carolina, March 10, 1697.
(An Act for making Aliens free of this part of the Province,
and for granting liberty of conscience to all Protestants.
Trott's Laws of South Carolina, page 61.)

MARANS. 297

Henri and Paul Bruneau, Pierre Buretel/ Alex- chap. v.
anclre and Henri Chasteignier, Cesar Mauze,'' i^s^i.
Henri Peronneau,^ and Pierre Videaul/ came
also from La Rochelle.

At no great distance from the city, and
within the same territory of Aunis, there were
several smaller places inhabited by families that
subsequently fled to America. Eleven miles to
the north-east, was the town of Marans, famous
in the wars of the League. Completely sur-

^ Charles Burtel, fugitif du departement de La Rochelle.
— (Arch. Nat.) His property was seized, May 4, 1688. Le
Sr. Pierre Burtel, sa femme et sa fille, fled to Holland in
1684. — (Arch. Nat.) He was naturalized in England, A]iril
15, 1687. Pierre Buretel, ne a la Rochelle, fils de Charles
Buretel et de Sara Bonhier : Elizabeth Chintrier sa femme.
— (Liste des Francois et Suisses Refugiez en Caroline, etc.)
Peter Buretel, chirurgeon, was made free of the city of New
York, June 11, 1708. Marie Chintrier, wife of Saviott
Broussard, alias Deschamps, who obtained letters of deni-
zation, March 12, 1696 ; and Francoise Chentrier, widow of
Andre Stuckey, 1707, were perhaps of the same family with
Buretel's wife. — (Patents, Albany, N. Y., Vol. VH., p. 9. —
Records of the French Church in New York.)

^ Elie Mauze, 1682, and la veuve Mauze, 1684, both fled
from La Rochelle to England, (Arch. Nat.,) where Elias
was naturalized in 1682, and Caesar Moze was naturalized
April 15, 1687. — Csesar Moze was in South Carolina in the
same year.

' Henri Peronneau, ne a la Rochelle, filsde Samuel Peron-
neau et de Jeanne Collin. (Liste des Francois et Suisses Refu-
giez en Caroline, etc.)

' Pierre Videaul, ne a la Rochelle, fils de Pierre Videaul
et de Madelaine Burgaud, was among the inhabitants of
Santee who applied, about the year 1696, to be naturalized ;
with his wife Jeanne Elizabeth and their daughter Jeanne
Elizabeth, born in London, and with their children Pierre
Nicholas, Marianne, Marthe Ester, Judith, Jeanne and
Madelaine, born in Carolina.— (Liste des Franfois et Suisses
Refugiez en Caroline, etc.)

298 AUNIS.

Chap. V. rounded by water, or by salt marshes, it formed
1681. a picturesque island, approached only from the
south-east by a causeway. Taken by the forces
of the duke of Guise, in 1588, Marans was
retaken by Henry of Navarre after the battle of
Coutras. When the Huguenot army was about
to advance to the assault of this place, the troops
kneeled down, according to their custom, in
prayer. The Roman Catholic soldiers, witness-
ing this procedure, exclaimed : " They are pray-
ing to God : now they will beat us, just as they
did at Coutras !"

Marans was the home of Elie Boudinot,' a
Tiie prosperous merchant, and an earnest adherent

Seigneur of the Protestaut faith. The family to which
cressy. he belonged had been identified for several
generations with the Huguenot cause. " Com-
pelled to abandon his country in order to avoid
the continual persecution to which he was sub-
jected because of his profession of the Gospel,"
Boudinot came to America, where his descend-
ants have been conspicuous for their fidelity to
the same principles, and their zeal in spreading
them.^

' Seigneur de Cressy : so designated on the fly-leaf of a
book of his, in the possession of his descendants.

* The will of Elias Boudinot is recorded in the city of
New York, and contains some interesting particulars.

Au nom de Dieu amen. Je soubsigne Elie Boudinot
marchant demeurant cydevant a Marant au gouvernement de
La Rochelle en France ayant este constraint d'abandonner
ma patrie pour eviter la continuelle persecution quon me
fezait pour la profession de I'Evangille mestent retire en ce
lieu avecq Suzanne Papin ma femme et nos enfans. . . . Je
recomande mo'n ame a la sainte et Glorieuse Trinity au

ELIE BOUDINOT'S WILL. 299

Benon and Mauze, villages lying east of La chap. v.

Pere qui I'a cree au Fils qui la rachettee et au Saint Esprit
quy la illuminee et santiffiee Desclarant que je veux vivre
et mourir en la creance et profession de la religion reformee
en laquelle jay este par la grace de Dieu esleve et men
corps estre jnhume duement Et comme par le contract de
mariage entre la ditte Suzanne Papin ma femme et nioy
passe par Andre Mucot nottaire royal a Londre le onziesme
novambre mil six cent quatre vingt-six ma ditte femme ap-
portionna Benjamin et Suzanne D'hariette ses Enfans Cha-
cun cent soixante huit livres sterlin payable par moy ou
mes herittiers lorsquils seront en age ou pourveus par
mariage Jay satisfait a la dite cloize ayant paye a deffunt
Pierre Bellin marit [mari] de la ditte Suzanne D'hariette,
168^ sterlin suivant leurs quittance deux signee Jay aussy
paye au dit Benjamin D'hariette pareille somme de cent
soixante huit livre sterlin suivant sa quittance les dittes
deux sommes payee en argent de ce lieu avecq le
change suivant le cours. Comme il a pleu a Dieu me
donner de mon present mariage quatre enfans qui sont
Jean Benjamin Madelaine et Suzanne Boudinot Je desclare
Suzanne ma femme leurs mere Tutrice et Curatrisse laquelle
je laisse dame et maitresse de tous generallement les biens
meubles marchandize argant debtes et tous effects quy se
trouveront mapartenir a la charge de donner a chacun de
mes dits enfans Jean, Benjamin, Madelaine et Susanne
Boudinot la somme de deux cents cinquante livres argent de
ce lieu et cella lors quils seront en age ou pourveus par
mariage a quoy je les apotionne chascun et herittiers les
ungs des autres et comme Elie Boudinot mon fils est de mon
premier mariage quy depuis quelque temps cest marie et en
consideration de son dit mariage je luy ay donne trois cent
livres argent courant de ce lieu partye an faveur comme
herritier de deffunte Janice Barand ma femme sa mere pour
sa potion quy luy venoit de reste des effects quil avoit plut
a Dieu me faire la grace de relirer de France et comme
aprez ma mort mon dit fils Elie demanderoit a venir a par-
tager tant avecq la ditte Suzanne ma femme quavecq ses
autres freres et soeurs de mon dit present mariage dans tous
les effets qui je pens laisser pour eviter tous troubles em-
baras ou contestation qui pouroit survenir dans le dit par-
tage je veux et ordonne que la ditte Suzanne ma femme
paye trois mois apres mon deceds a mon dit fils Elie Bou-
dinot la somme de cent cinquante livres argent de ce lieu

1681

500 AUNIS.

Chap. V. Rochelle,' are noticeable as the places where

1681. three Huguenot families transplanted to New

York, oricrinated. Mauze was the home of Louis

ayant cours et ce pour touttes succession et pretention de
tons les meubles marchandize argent debtes et autres effects
generallement quy se trouveront a moy apartenir et apres la
ditte somme de cent cinquante livres payee mon dit fils ne
poura faire aucune demande a la ditte Suzanne ma femme
ny a ses freres et soeurs soubs quelque pretexte de succession
que ce soitt. — Et comme j'ay laisse du bien en France et
autres effets suivant les contracts obligation promesse et
billets et par mes livres de conte le lout laisse entre les mains
de deff unt mon nepveur Jean Boudinot marchant a Marenes
avecq ma procuration generalle pour agir i^our moy et
pour retirer de mes effets ce quil pouroit en cas de
quelque Remize le tout sera partage par mes dits en-
fans du premier et segond lit par egalle portions et
sil plaisoit a Dieu Comme je len prie de tout mon coeur
de restablir en France la liberte de nostre sainte reli-
gion et que mes dits enfans y retournasse ils partagerjont
entreux tous les biens meubles et Immeubles quy se trouv-
eront a moy apartenir et ce par egalle portion se sont la mes
derniere vollontes et Intention voullant et entandant quelle
sortes leurs plain et entier effet et pour plus forte execution
dicelle jay nomme pour executeur et administrateur et pour
faire valloir mon dit present testament monsieur Paul
Drouilhet mon bon amy marchant en ce lieu lequel je prie
daccepter cette commission comme len jugant tres digne et
capable et de le faire executeur en tous ses points contre
tous et envers tous revoquant ])ar ce mien dit present Tes-
tament tous ceus quy se pouront trouver cy devant
faits par moy en foy de quoy jay escrit ce present signe de
ma main celle de mon cachet en presence des tesmoings
sousignes a New York le quatorziesme novembre milcept-
cent .... Eslie Boudinot. Tesmoins Gabriel Broussard
Henry Pichot.

Proved October 26, 1702.

Record of Wills, VII., pp. 35-36.

' Benon, sixteen miles from La Rochelle, is now a village
of a thousand inhabitants. Mauze, with eighteen hundred
inhabitants, lies seven miles further east.

THE GALLAUDETS. 301

Guion/ and of Pierre Elisee Gallaudet;^ and chap. v.

' Louis Guion, of Moze [Mauze] en Aunis, and Marie
Morin, his wife, presented their son Louis, born August 21,
1694, for baptism in the French church in Glasshouse street,
London. — (Registre, etc., in the custody of the Registrar-
General, Somerset House.) Louis Guion, who bought land
in New Rochelle, N. Y., in 1690, was doubtless related to
him. The family tradition represents that he came from La
Rochelle, and that his son Louis, twelve years of age in
1698, (census of New Rochelle,) was born at sea.

" A memorandum, partly undecipherable, in the posses-
sion of the Gallaudet family in America, states that "Peter
Elisha Gallaudet" was " born in Moze [Mauze], pays d'Au-
nis, seven leagues from old Rochelle and four from Niort
en Poitou. His estate between his sister * * * the name
of the place called 3 Punall [?] a Saint Gelais between Niort
and Surin. His father's name Joshua Gallaudet, born and
bred at Mose. His mother's name Margaret Prioleau,
daughter to Elisha [Elisee] Prioleau, minister of Exou-
dun * * * "—Communicated by E. M. Gallaudet, LL.D.

Elisee Prioleau was the son of Elisee, minister of Niort,
1639-1650. He was minister of Exoudun, Poitou, 1649-
1663. — (Lievre, Hist, des prot. et des eglises ref. du Poitou,
in., 288, 306.) Samuel, a younger son of the pastor of
Niort, was minister of Pons in Saintonge, from 1650 to 1683.
He was succeeded in that charge by his son Elie Prioleau,
who came after the Revocation with some members of his
flock to Charleston, S. C.

Dr. Pierre Elisee Gallaudet was a resident of New Ro-
chelle, N. Y., as early as the year 1711. Several of his des-
cendants have illustrated the name by their distinguished
philanthropic services, particularly in promoting the im-
provement of the condition of deaf-mutes. The Rev.
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, LL.D., founder of the first insti-
tution in America for the instruction of the deaf and
dumb, (born in Philadelphia, Dec. 10, 1787, died in
Hartford, Conn., September 9, 1851,)' was the great-
grandson of the Huguenot emigrant. Two of his sons, the
Rev. Thomas Gallaudet, D.D., Rector of St. Ann's Church
for Deaf-Mutes, in the city of New York, and Edward
Miner Gallaudet, Ph.D., LL.D., President and Professor of
Moral and Political Science, National Deaf-Mute College,
Washington, D. C, continue the good work with which their
father's memory is honorably associated.

1681.

502 AUNIS.

Chap. V. Benon, that of Pierre Vergereau and his brother

1681. Jean/

Off the coast of Aunis, and nearly opposite
the city of La Rochelle, Hes the island of Re, a
spot that may be said to rival that city in its
claim upon the attention of Americans of Hu-
guenot descent : for it was the native place, or the
place of refuge, of many families that ultimately
found their way to the New World. The Isle of
Re is but sixteen miles lonof, with an average
breadth of less than three miles. Its principal
towns are St. Martin, La Flotte, and Ars.
Like the main shore, from which it is separated
only by the narrow strait of Perthuis,^ the
land is low and sandy, and abounds in briny
lagoons and marshes, that yield rich supplies of
sea-salt, and furnish employment to many of
the inhabitants. At the time of the Revoca-
tion, the population of the Isle of Re was al-
most wholly Protestant. 3 The fishermen and

' Jean Vergereau, natif de Benon en Aunis, married
Marie Mahault, in the French church in New York, June 16,
1697. Pierre, apparently his brother, was a witness to the
marriage. His son Pierre, goldsmith, became prominent in
the affairs of the French church, and was an elder in 1740
and long after. He married Susanne Boudinot.

" At the narrowest part, this channel is little more than
two miles in width.

^ The inhabitants of the island of Re, at the present day,
are in large proportion descended, it may be presumed,
from the " nouveaux convertis," or the nominally converted
Protestants, who remained in the country after the Revoca-
tion of the Edict of Nantes. They are said to exhibit
marked traits of character, which we may perhaps regard
as indicative, in some measure, of their Huguenot origin.
" Tres-sobre, travailleur acharn^, appreciant et d^sirant

THE ISLE OF RE. 303

seamen and salters of this region had been chap. v.
among the earHest converts to the evangeHcal 1681.
faith, a century and a half before : and their se-
clusion and obscurity had shielded them in a
measure from molestation on account of their
belief. Of late, also, many Huguenots of means,
leaving their abodes in the interior of the
country, had sought this island as a retreat
where they might hope to escape observation,
and whence, if need there should be, they might
wing their flight to a friendlier shore beyond
seas. This fact serves to explain the presence
of some persons, concerning whom there is
reason to believe that they had come from the
neighboring provinces of Poitou, Saintonge, and
Angoumois, to sojourn here.

Amonof the French Protestants who came to
Boston, in Massachusetts, was Adam De Che-
zeau,' a native of the Isle of Re. Ezechiel Carre,

I'lnstruction, le paysan retais," writes an intelligent observer,
" est estimable entre tons. Plus que tout autre habitant
natif d'une petite ile, il a la volonte et I'aptitude de tout faire
par lui-meme : il est a la fois marin, pecheur, cultivateur,
saulnier,^vigneron, macon, charpentier. A premiere vue, on
peut sourire de quelques-unes de ses habitudes : apres
reflexion on y reconnait I'empreinte de veritables et rares
qualites. Vraiment bon, il menage les animaux qui I'aident
a son travail au point de les gater et de les rendre volon-
taires et ombrageux comme des enfants trop aimes." — (D.
Lancelot : La Rochelle et son arrondissement. La Ro-
chelle : 1877. Pp. 43, 44.)

' De Chezeaux, famille originaire de 1' ile de Re. — (Bul-
letin historique et litteraire : Societe de I'histoire du protes-
tantisme frangais. Vol. XXIV., pp. 477, 526.) Adam de
Chezeau, mariner, with others, " forced to leave their native
country of France on account of the Protestant religion, for
which" they " have been greatly persecuted and distressed,"

304 AUNIS.

Chap. V. the pastor of the Narragansett colony,' and Pierre
1681. and Daniel Ayrault,' who accompanied him,
were from the same place. Nicolas Filoux,^
and Paul Collin,^ ancestors of families that
settled in Connecticut, were inhabitants of the
island. In New York, Pierre and Abraham
Jouneau,5 Ezechiel Barbauld,^ Elie and Guil-

petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts for deniza-
tion in February, 1731. — (Mass. Archives, Vol. XI., p. 488,)
' Ezechiel Carreus, Retensis, was admitted in 1670 to the
study of philosophy and theology in the Academie of Gen-
eva.— (Livre du Recteur : Catalogue des Etudiants de
I'Academie de Geneve, de 1559 a 1859. Geneve, i860.

P. i5«)

^ Pierre Ayiault, fugitif de I'ile de Re. (Archives Nat.,
Tt. n°- 259.) But see below.

^ Nicolas Pierre Filoux fled from the Isle of Re in 1685.
(Arch. Nat.) Nicolas Fillou, natif de I'ile de Re en France,
died in New York, March i, 1690. — (Records of the French
Church in New York.) Pierre, perhaps a son of Nicolas,
was in New York in 1697 : possibly the ancestor of the
Fillou or Philo family of Norwalk, Connecticut, reputed to
be of Huguenot descent.

' Paul Collin and his wife fled from the Isle of Re in 1683
to Dublin, Ireland. — (Arch. Nat ) Paul Collin, one of the
settlers of Narragansett in 1686, was probably, like Pierre,
who settled in South Carolina, a son of Jean Collin and Ju-
dith Vasleau of the Isle of Re. (He was sponsor at the
baptism of a child of Pierre Valleau, in New York, July 19,
1721.) Paul appears to have removed to Milford, Connec-
ticut, after the breaking up of the Narragansett colony, and
was probably the father of John Collin, born in 1706, ances-
tor of the Hon. John F. Collin, of Plillsdale, N. Y.

"* Peter Jouneau, born at the Isle of Re, was naturalized
in New York, September 27, 1687. Abraham Jouneau was
one of the fugitifs de I'lle de Re. — (Arch. Nat.) He was
made a freeman of the city of New York in 1701, and was
an Elder of the French Church in 1724. Philip Jouneau
was made a freeman in 1702. Was he a son of Philippe
Jouneau, pasteur a Barbezieux, Angoumois, en 1682 ?

" Ezekiel Barbauld was naturalized in New York, Septem-
ber 21, 1728, and made free of the city in the same year.

EMIGRANTS FROM THE ISLE OF RE. 305

laume Cothoneau,' Etienne V^alleau,- Marie Du chap. v.
Tay, wife of Jean Coulon, and Jeanne Du lay, j^gi
wife of Jacques Targe,^ Ren^ Rezeau,'* Jacques

Possibly a son of Ezechiel Barbauld, natif de St. Martin
dans rile de Re, pastor of several of the French churches in
London.

' Elie Cottoneau, Guillaume Cottoneau, fugitifs de ITle
de Re, (Arch. Nat.) were among the principal settlers of
New Rochelle, N. Y., 1694.

^ Estienne Vasleau, marchand, fled from the Isle of Re in
1682 to England. — (Arch. Nat.) Estienne Vallos, Mary,
his wife, Estienne, junior, Arnaud, their sons : Sarah and
Mary, daughters, born at the Isle of Re, were naturalized in
New York, September 27, 1687. — (Act.) Etienne Valleau,
probably the son, settled in Kingston, Ulster County, N. Y.

Esaie Valleau, who settled in New Rochelle, N. Y., was
probably related to Etienne. He was also from the Isle of
Re. — (Arch. Nat.) The name is still extant in the city of
New York. Isaiah Valleau died in that city, December
26, 1875, at the house of his son, Henry Valleau, aged
seventy-four years.

^ Marie du Tay, de I'ile de Re, was married, April 27,
1692, in the French Church in New York, to Jean Coulon.
Jeanne du Tay, wife of Jacques Targe. " Dutaies," fugitif
de rile de Re. (Arch. Nat.)

* Rene Rezeau, macon, of the Isle of Re, with his wife
[Anne Coursier], fled in 1685, "a la Caroline." — (Arch Nat.)
They presented their daughter Ester for baptism in the
French Church in Nev/ York, January i, 1689. Jacques
Rezeau, de St. Martin en Re, was married in that Church,
March 10, 1705, to Marie Contesse. Rene settled on Staten
Island. Several of the earlier settlers of Staten Island were
were also natives of the Isle of Re. Among these were
Jean Belleville, of St. Martin en Re, and perhaps Francois
Martineau — an Isle of Re name — who became members of
the Dutch Church in New York, July 28, 1670; (Harlem,
Its Origin and Annals, by James Riker, p. 301 ; ) Jacques
Guion, of St. Martin's en Re, who received a grant of
land on Staten Island in 1664, (Ibid. p. 20,) and Paul Re-
grenie, who obtained a grant in 1674. — (Marie Regreny, of
St. Martin en I'ile de Re : register of marriages in Leicester
Fields Chapel, London.)

3o6 AUNIS.

Chap. V. Erouard,' Elie Mestayer,^ Daniel Jouet and

,58i. Marie Coiirsier, his wife,^ Jacques Bertonneau/

Jean, Francois, Ester, and Madeleine Vincent,^

' Jacques Erouard, de File de Re, and Elizabeth Brigaud
his wife ; and Marie Erouard, de I'ile de Re, wife of Jean
Brigaud, were in London, 1695, 1697. — (Registers, etc.,
Somerset House.) Jacques Erouard and Jeanne Jabouin his
wife presented their children for baptism in the French
Church, New York, 1755-1763. Charles Erouard and Es-
ter Coutant his wife, were members of the French Church,
New Rochelle, 1 759-1 761. The name has been transformed
into Heroy.

^ Fran(;ois and Philippe Metayer, fugitifs de I'lle de Re. —
(Arch. Nat.) Francois Mestayer, de ITle de Re, aged sev-
enty-eight years, received aid from the Royal Bounty fund,
in London, 1705. Elie Mestayer, sponsor at the baptism of
Abraham Jouneau's child, French Church in New York,
March 20, 1720.

" Daniel Jouet, ills de Daniel Jouet et d'Elizabeth Jouet,
natif de I'isle de Re • et Marie Coursier sa femme, fille de
Jehan Coursier et de Anne Perrotau. — (Liste des Fran9ois
et Suisses Refugiez en Caroline, etc.) Their children Dan-
iel and Pierre were born in that island. A daughter Marie
was born in Plymouth, England. Two sons, Ezechiel and
Jean, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne, were bap-
tized in the French Church, New York. Jouet was one of
the Narragansett colonists. He removed to New York, and
thence to South Carolina.

'' "Mr Bertonneau," a member of the French Church in
New York, received assistance in 1694. Sara Bertonneau,
nee en I'isle de Re, widow of Elie Jodon and wife of Pierre
Michaud, was in South Carolina in 1696.

^ Madeleine Vincent, wife of Jean Pelletreau, was "born
at St. Martins." — (Act of Naturalization, New York, 1687.)
Her brothers Jean and Francois, sailmakers, came to New
York at the same time. Fran9ois Vincent, voilier, who fled
to England in 1681, was of Soubise. — (Arch. Nat.) He had
probably pursued his trade in that place, twenty miles south
of La Rochelle, previous to his flight. Fran9ois was natu-
ralized in England, March 21, 1682, and a week later he
sailed from London with his wife Anne Guerry and his
children Anne and Fran9oise for America.

EMIGRANTS FROM THE ISLE OF RE. 307

Olivier Besly/ Gregoire Goiijon," Marie Gal- chap. v.
lais,3 Pierre and Daniel Bontecou/ were natives 1681.

' Besly, famille protestante de la Rochelle et de ITle de
Re. — (La France Protestante.) Jean and Etienne Besly,
fugitifs de I'isle de Re. — (Arch. Nat.) Oliver Besly was
one of the leading inhabitants of New -Rochelle, N. Y., in
1694.

^ Gregoire Gougeon was among the " persecutez en Sain-
tonge, Aunix, He de Re et environs," mentioned by Benoist,
Histoire de I'Edit de Nantes, Vol. IV., p. 102 1. Gregoire
Goujon, fugitif dc ITle de Re. — (Arch. Nat.) A merchant
of New York, and a member of the French Church in that
city in 1701. His wife was Renee Marie Graton. He
bought land in New Rochelle, May 30, 1701. His daugh-
ter, Renee Marie, became the second wife of pasteur Louis
Rou, of New York, November 3, 17 13.

' Jean Galais, fugitif de ITle de Re. — (Arch. Nat.) John
Gallais, and Mary his wife were naturalized in England in
1686. La veuve Galay was one of the colonists of Narra-
gansett. Marie Gallais, French Church in New York, 1691.

^ Pierre Bondecou, sa femme, cinq enfans, fugitifs de I'lle
de Re, had gone, it was supposed, to " la Caroline," in 1684.
(Arch. Nat.) They were in New York as early as July 24, 1689,
when Pierre Bontecou and his wife Marguerite presented their
daughter Rachel for baptism in the French Church. Daniel
Bontecou, undoubtedly the son of Pierre, was born about
the year 1681, and died in the city of New York in Novem-
ber, 1773, aged ninety-two, "This gentleman," writes M.
du Simitiere, " I knew very well for many years. In the
summer of the year 1770, being in company with him, he
told me that he was born at La Rochelle from the descend-
ant of the famous Dutch navigator Bontecoe [Bontekoe],
that his parents fled from France for the sake of religion
when he was an infant, that they went to England, and soon
after came to New York, that he had then resided there
eighty-two years. Mr. Bontecoe was for many years an El-
der of the French Church in New York, and at the above-
mentioned time enjoyed good health, sound judgment, and
tolerable memory." — (Du Simitiere MSS., Philadelphia
Library Company.) The descendants of Pierre Bontecou
are numerous, and are to be found chiefly in the State of
New York. The family is at present represented by Charles
Hubbard Bontecou, Esq., of Lansingburgh, N. Y., and
others.

3o8 AUNIS.

Chap. V. of the Isle of Re. The famihes of Rappe 'and
1681. Ribouleau,^ in Pennsylvania, originated in the
same locality. Of the settlers of Manakin-
town, Virginia, Paul Bernard, ^ Janvier '» and
Abraham Salle, ^ were natives of Re. And of
the Huguenots who went to South Carolina,

' Gabriel Rappe fils, fugitif de I'lle de Re, had fled, it
was thought — between 1681 and 1685 — to "la Caroline." —
(Arch. Nat.) He was in Pennsylvania in 1683, when Capt.
Gabriel Rappe, with others, promised allegiance to the king
and fidelity and lawful obedience to William Penn, proprie-
tor and governor. — (Penn. Archives, Vol. I., p. 26.) Gabriel
Rappe was naturalized, July 2, 1684.

" Nicolas Ribouleau, who appeared before the provincial
council at the same time with Rappe, was doubtless from
the same place. Several refugees of this name are men-
tioned, as fugitives from the isle of Re.

^ Paul Bernard le jeune, sa femme, deux enfans, fugitifs
de I'ile de Re, 1685, were believed to have gone to " la Car-
oline." Joseph Bernard and wife were among the settlers
of Manakintown, Virginia, 1701.

" Philippe Janvier, sa femme, trois enfans, fled to En-
gland from the He de Re in 1683. — (Arch. Nat.) Pierre
Janvier and Marie Boynaux were married in the Swallow
Street French Church, London, December, 171 1. — (Registre,
etc.) " Thomas Janvier, the ancestor of the families of
this name in this country, was a Huguenot." — (An Address,
embracing the Early History of Delaware, and the Settle-
ment of its Boundaries, and of the Drawyers Congregation.
By Rev. George Foot. Philadelphia, 1842, p. 56.) He
was living in the town of New Castle, Delaware, as early
as 1707. — (Historical Sketch of the Presbyterian Church
of New Castle, Delaware. By the Rev. J. B. Spotswood,
D.D. Pp. 15, 21.)

^ " Abraham Salle, son of John Salle, by Mary his wife :
born at Saint Martins in France," petitioned the governor
and council for denization. New York, 1700. The children
of Abraham Salle and Olive Perault his wife, baptized in
the French Church, New York, were Abraham, born Octo-
ber 31, 1700, and Jacob, born July 28, 1701. Salle re-
moved to Manakintown, Virginia.

EMIGRANTS FROM THE ISLE OF Rt. 309

Jacques and Jean Barbot/ Moise Le Brun," Chap. v.
Daniel Gamier, and Elizabeth Fanton his wife ^ 77

' lOOI.

' "Jacques Barbot, Marchand ; sa femnie ; 1685 ; a la
Caroline. Jean Barbot." — (Archives Nationales, Tt., n*^-
259.) I have not met these names among those of the
refugees in America ; nor that of " le sieur Laboureur : sa
femme et ses enfans," who is also represented as having fled
from the Isle de Re in 1685, and as having gone to " la Car-
oline."

^ Moyse Le Brun, ne a I'isle de Re, fils de Moyse Le
Brun et de Marie Tauvron. — (Liste des Francois et Suisses
Refugiez en Caroline.) La veuve Le Brun was aided by
the French Church in New York, and she and her son were
sent to Carolina, their passage being paid, Sept. 12, 1694.
— (Records of the French Church in New York.)

Agnes Constance Le Brun, " born at Guadaloupe," was
naturalized in New York in 1687, together with Daniel
Gombaud and his wife. — (Act of Naturalization, N. Y.)
She lived for some time in New Rochelle, probably with
Gombaud, who may have been her guardian : and was re-
ceived a member of the Dutch Church of New York, Sep-
tember 14, 1 69 1, by certificate from the French Church in
New Rochelle. — (Records of the Reformed Protestant
Dutch Church, City of New York. Liber A.)

' Daniel Garnier, Marchand : sa femme, six enfans, et
Rachel Fanton sa soeur, sortis de I'lsle de Re en 1685 ; lieu
de leur retraite, la Caroline. — (Archives Nationales.) Dan-
iel Garnier, ne en I'lsle de Re, fils de Daniel Garnier et de
Marie Chevallier ; Elizabeth Fanton, sa femme ; Etienne,
Rachel, Margueritte, Anne, leurs enfans nez en I'lsle de
Re : inhabitants of Santee in 1696. — (Liste des Fran9ois et
Suisses Refugiez en Caroline.) An older daughter had mar-
ried Daniel Horry, since deceased. Elizabeth Garnier,
veuve Daniel Horry, fille de Daniel Garnier et de Elizabeth
Fanton, native de I'lsle de Re. Elizabeth Marye, Lidie
Marye, fiUes de Daniel Horry et de la ditte Elizabeth Gar-
nier, neez en Caroline. — (Id.)

Isaac Garnier, cordwainer, perhaps also of the Isle of
Re, if not related to the above, was a member of the
French Church in New York as early as the year 1692. He
had several children baptized in that church, and was one of
the "chefs de famille " in 1704 and after. He was made a
freeman of the city in 1695.

3IO AUNIS.

chap.v. Arnaud France," Daniel Huger,^ Daniel Jodon
1685. and Sara Bertonneau his mother,^ Isaac Mazicq/

' Arnaud France ; sa femme ; deux enfans : sortis de
risle de Re en 1685 ; lieu de leur retraite, a la Caroline.
— (Archives Nationales.) The name does not occur in any
lists of refugees in America.

^ Daniel Huger, Marchand : sa femme : deux enfans ;
sortis de I'lsle de Re en 1682 ; lieu de leur retraite, a Lon-
dres. — (Archives Nationales.) Daniel Huger and Jeanne
his wife were naturalized in England, March 8, 1682. The
wife's name may have been Jeanne Marguerite. Daniel
Huger, ne a Loudun, [en Poitou,] fils de Jean Huger,
et Anne Rassin ; Margueritte Perdriau, sa femme; Marguer-
ilte leur fille, nee a la Rochelle ; Daniel et Madeleme, leurs
enfans, nez en Caroline : refugees in South Carolina, 1696.
— (Liste des Fran9ois et Suisses Refugiez, etc.)

^ Daniel Jodon, fils d'Elie Jodon et de Sara Jodon, ne en
ITsle de Re. Sara, femme de Pierre Michaud, fille de
Jacques et E-lizabeth Bertonneau, [see above,] nee en I'isle
de Re, ci-devant femme de Elie Jodon : refugees in
South Carolina, 1696. — (Liste des Fran9ois et Suisses Refu-
giez, etc.)

* Isaac Mazic, fugitif de I'lsle de Re. (Archives Na-
tionales, Tt. n°- 259.) The same document mentions
Estienne and Paul Mazic. Isaac Mazicq, natif de I'lsle de
Re, fils de Paul Mazicq, et de Helesabeth Vanewick, Mari-
anne Le Serrurier, sa femme, Marie Anne Mazicq, leur fille,
nee en Caroline. — (Liste des Fran9ois et Suisses Refugiez,
etc.) "Isaac Mazyck, the ancestor of the numerous and
respectable families in South Carolina bearing the name,
arrived at Charleston, with many other Huguenot refugees,
from England, in December, 1686. His father, Paul Mazyck,
or Paul de Mazyck, was a native of the Bishopric of Liege, and
a Walloon. Paul married Elizabeth Van Vick, or Van Wyck,
of Flanders. He removed to Maestricht, in the Nether-
lands, and afterwards to St. Martin, in the Isle de Re, oppo-
site La Rochelle. Stephen Mazyck emigrated to England,
thence to Ireland, and resided many years in Dublin, where
he died. Isaac fled from France to Amsterdam. He was a
wealthy merchant, and succeeded in transferring to that com-
mercial city the sum of fifteen hundred pounds sterling. Ff om
Amsterdam he went to England with his funds, and sailed
from London with an interest in a cargo of one thousand

EMIGRANTS FROM OLERON. 31 1

Pierre Mounier,' and Etienne Tauvron,^ came chap. v.
from Re ; while Isaac Biscon ^ and Jean Heraud 1681.
were from the neighboring island of Oleron.

The flight of these families, as of so many
others, from France, occurred chiefly between
the years 1681 and 1686. It was in 1681, as we
have seen in a preceding chapter, that the
severities inflicted by the government upon the
subjects of the Reformed religion, with a view to
coerce them to embrace " the king's religion,"

pounds. This investment enabled him, in Charleston, to lay
the foundation of the wealth which he afterwards acquired,
and which he liberally dispensed in aid of the religious and
charitable institutions of the city. He is believed to have
been one of the founders of the Huguenot Church in
Charleston, to which he left in his will one hundred pounds,
the interest of which he directed to be paid annually forever
for the support of a Calvinistic Minister of that Church.
In his family Bible, under date of 1685, is this record :
' God gave me the blessing of coming out of France, and
of escaping the cruel persecution carried on there against
the Protestants : and to express my thanksgiving for so
great a blessing, I promise, please God, to observe the an-
niversary of that by a fast.'" — (History of the Presbyte-
rian Church in South Carolina. By George Howe. D.D.
Vol. I., p. 102.)

' Pierre Mounier : fugitif de ITsle de Re. — (Archives
Nationales.) Peter Mousnier was naturalized in England
April 15, 1687. Pierre Mounier, natif de I'isle de Ree, fils
de Louis Mounier et Elizabeth Martineaux, et Louise Robi-
net sa femme, fille de Louis Robinet ; refugees in South
Carolina, 1696. — (Liste des Fran9ois et Suisses Refugiez,
etc.)

"^ Estienne Tauvron, ne a I'isle de Re, fils de Jacques
Tauvron et de Marie Brigand. Madeleine, sa fille, nee a
I'isle de Re. Ester, nee a Plymouth.

' Jean Biscon, fugitif de I'isle d'Oleron.— (Archives Na-
'ionales.) Isaac Biscon and wife, admitted into the colony
of Massachusetts, February i, 1691 ; and Samuel Biscon,
South Carolina, 17 17, were probably of the same extraction.

312 FLIGHT FROM LA ROCHELLE AND AUNIS.

Chap. V. reached a point that must have seemed to
1681. them the height of barbarity and oppression, in
the enactment of a law permitting children of
the age of seven years and upward to forsake
the faith of their parents. Before this period,
the Huguenots of La Rochelle, though exposed
to some of the penalties and disabilities endured
by their brethren throughout France, had long
enjoyed an exceptional tranquillity. During this
time, many a Protestant family had made its
way from another province to find, in some one
of the villages of Aunis, or in the city itself, a
comparative freedom from religious persecution.
The But with the appointment of Demuyn, " a

Intendant ^1 r d ^ 4- ^- "

Demuyn. mortal enemy oi rrotestantism, as governor
of Aunis, in 1674, the tribulations of the long
favored Rochellese may be said to have begun
in earnest. The laws which we have elsewhere
rehearsed, shutting out all Protestants from civil
employments, from the learned professions, from
trades of various kinds, were now enforced, so
far as practicable. No class was exempt from
annoyance and indignity. The families that
prided themselves upon their noble rank, in virtue
of descent from persons who had filled the high-
est municipal offices, were informed that they
could retain their honors only on condition of
renouncing heresy. Ministers of the Gospel
were threatened, silenced, imprisoned. The
citizens of La Rochelle, as early as the summer
of 1 68 1, saw the towns and villages around them
visited by bands of soldiers, quartered on de-
fenseless Protestant families ; and they knew

THE "TEMPLE" DEMOLISHED. 313

that, sooner or later, they too must experience chap. v.
the horrors of the dragonnadcs. Already, num- ^
bers from Poitou were flying before the storm of
persecution. More than one hundred of these,
discovered in La Rochelle, whither they had
come to embark for England or Holland, were
thrown into the tower of La Lantcrnc. At length
the decree went forth for the suppression of the
Huguenot worship, in that city that had so long
been the stronorhold or the refuQ-e of the Calvin-
ists of France. It was ordered that the January

"temple" be demolished within one month, and
that the Protestants themselves perform the
work of destruction. Not one, however, was
found willing to take part in it ; the government
employed workmen for the purpose, charging the
expense of the demolition to the homeless con-
gregation : and in five days it was completed.
A few weeks later, the Protestant heads of
families were summoned to an interview with
the governor, Arnou, who had succeeded De-
muyn in this position. They were commanded, March 30.
in the kine's name, to renounce the heresy of
Calvin: and they were informed that, "should
they withstand their sovereign's order, and stub-
bornly close their hearts against the Holy Ghost,
His Majesty would consider himself discharged
from responsibility for the pains and calamities
that would befall them, beginning in this world,
in punishment for their hardness of heart."

October came — the fatal month of the Revo-
cation— and with it, the dragonnadcs. It was on
the first day of this memorable month, that a

314 FLIGHT FROM LA ROCHELLE AND AUNIS.

Chap. V.

16S5.

October
1.

Bernon's
letter.

letter was addressed by a Protestant of La Ro-
chelle to some unknown person in Boston, Mas-
sachusetts, picturing in quaint but touching lan-
euaofe the wretched condition of his fellow-reli-
gionists, and expressing their desire to seek
refuoe in America. " God orrant that I and my
family were with you ; we should not been
exposed to the furie of our enemies, who rob
us of the eoods which God hath oiven us to the
subsistence of our soule and body. I shall not
assume to write all the miseries that we suffer,
which cannot be comprehended in a letter, but
in many books. I shall tell you briefly, that our
temple is condemned, and rased, our ministers
banished forever, all their goods confiscated, and
moreover they are condemned to the fine of
[one] thousand crowns. All t'other temples are
also rased, excepted the temple of Re, and two
or three others. By act of Parliament we are
hindered to be masters in any trade or skill.
We expect every days the lord governour of
Guiene, who shall put soldiers in our houses,
and take away our childeren to be offered to the
Idol, as they have done in t'other countrys.

" The country where you live (that is to say
New England) is in great estime ; I and a great
many others, Protestants, intend to go there.
Tell us, if you please, what advantage we can
have there, and particularly the boors who are
accoustumed to plough the ground. If some body
of your country would hazard to come here with
a ship to fetch in our French Protestants, he

would make great

All of us hope for

FUSILEERS FROM BEARN.

315

God's help, to whose Providence we submit our- chap. v.
selves, etc." ' j58-

The fears of this writer were soon realized.
A few days later, " seven to eight thousand
fusileers, just come, as it was said, from convert-
ing the Protestants in Beam," entered La Ro-
chelle. They were quartered in the houses of
Protestants only. To one family, five soldiers
were assigned, to another ten, to a third, an
entire company. The scenes of disorder and
outrage already witnessed in the villages of
Poitou and Saintonge, were repeated in the
homes of the Rochellese. "At first, these men ap-
peared in the character of merchants in search
of gain : but suddenly they were seen to be Pillage
transformed, as it were, into so many lions and La
tigers ; so that all who could escape abandoned
their houses, which the soldiers at once pillaged,
selling the furniture. Upon those who could not
or would not leave their homes, they vented all
their fury, until many who would no longer bear
it, yielded to violence." ^ Three hundred fami-
lies, tormented beyond all endurance, gave way,

' The above extract from the letter in question was dis-
covered by the late Rev. Abiel Holmes, D.D., corresponding
secretary of the Massachusetts Historical Society, in the
MSS. collected by the Rev. Thomas Prince, and deposited
in the library of that society. The document was entitled
a "letter written from Rochel, the ist of October 1684."
The, date is evidently a mistake for 1685. From certain
j^eculiarities of phraseology, spelling, etc., I am convinced
that the writer was Gabriel Bernon.

^ Histoire des Reformez de la Rochelle depuis I'annee
1660 jusqu' a I'annee 1685 en laquelle I'Edit de Nantes
a ete revoque. [Par A. Tessereau.] Amsterdam : chez la
veuve de Pierre Savouret, dans le Kalver-Straat, 1689.

Bochelle.

3l6 FLIGHT FROM LA ROCHELLE AND AUNIS.

Chap. V. and suffered themselves to be enrolled among
1685. the " new converts " of Rome. Eight hundred
families, however, stood firm : though the gov-
ernor, having again sent for them, threatened
to destroy them [^^es abinici'], if they persisted in
their obstinacy. And now, four companies of
the dreaded dragoons entered La Rochelle ; and
the heart-broken Huguenots saw them come by
fifties and hundreds into their dwellings, sword
in hand, with oaths and curses, as if storming a
foreign city. Nothing remained for the un-
fortunate citizens but recantation, imprisonment
or flight. Many succumbed to the temptation to
purchase security and comfort, by outwardly
conforming to the Church of Rome, though

"Bowing scarcely disg-uisinQr their repugnance for her

the knee . *^ ^ , , .

to doctrines and worship. Others did not go so
far, taking refuse in a verbal recantation, aoainst
which their consciences protested, and which
they hastened to disavow, so soon as they were
able to make their escape from France, Some
utterly refused, as they expressed it, to " bow
the knee to Baal," and suffered every loss and
indignity that a brutal soldiery and a merciless
priesthood could inflict upon them, rather than •
forsake the faith of their fathers. Multitudes
fled to other lands, leaving their houses and
their goods to be confiscated, severing all the
ties that bound them to their country and their
race, and carrying with them the virtues that
were to contribute immensely to the worth and
prosperity of the peoples that received them.
By the time the Edict of Fontainebleau ap-

PIERRE JAY. 317

peared, revoking the "irrevocable and per- chap. v.
petual " Edict of Nantes, Protestant La Ro- 1685.
chelle, to all appearance, had ceased to exist.

The "large house" of Pierre Jay, "below the
Bourserie," had been one of the dwelling's
especially marked for intrusion, when the fusi-
leers from Beam entered La Rochelle. Finding
that the annoyances which they inflicted upon
the Huofuenot merchant did not avail to convert
him, the governor withdrew these soldiers, and
substituted for them a number of the dreaded
dragoons. The situation of the family soon
became intolerable. A visit to the parish priest,
a word spoken, or a signature, would have sufficed
at any moment to rid them of their tormentors : Escape
and many of their friends and neighbors were ja°y,g
hastening to purchase exemption in this way tan"iy»
from barbarities which they could no longer
endure. Jay did not recant. He determined,
if possible, to remove his wife and children
from the house, unobserved by the dragoons,
and to put them on board a vessel about to sail
for Plymouth. The difficulties in the way of
carrying out this plan, especially the latter part
of it, were very great. The king's ships were
cruisine in the channel, with strict orders to
search every vessel that might leave the coast ;
and companies of cavalry had been recently
stationed by the governor of Aunis in the
neighborhood of every place of embarkation
along the shore. Jay, however, succeeded, and
having insured the safety of his family, he re-
mained at home, doubtless with the design of

prisoner

Lanterne.

318 FLIGHT FROM LA ROCHELLE AND AUNIS.

Chap. V. rescuing at least some portion of his property
1685. from the general wreck. It was not long, of
course, before the fugitives were missed. Jay
was arrested, and imprisoned in the tower of La
Lanterne, under charge of having violated the
severe law forbidding all connivance at the
escape of Huguenots from the kingdom,
Through the intervention of some influentia'
Roman Catholic friends, he recovered his lib-
erty. Any effort to secure his property, by
sale, or collection of debts, now seemed hope-
A less. But it so happened that about this time
several merchant ships, in the cargoes of which
he was interested, were expected to arrive in the
harbor of La Rochelle. Of one of these —
both vessel and carofo — he was sole owner. It
was a ship engaged in trade with Spain. Jay
resolved to escape, in the first of these vessels
that might make its appearance. To this end
he instructed a pilot, upon whose fidelity he
could depend, to watch for its arrival, and cause
the ship to be anchored at a place agreed upon
off the Isle de Re. The vessel expected from
Spain was the first to arrive. The friendly pilot
lost no time in acquainting his employer with
the fact : and favored by the darkness. Jay suc-
ceeded in reaching the pilot-boat, where he lay
concealed for several hours, so near to one of
the king's ships that he could hear the voices of
the crew. At length, the wind sprang up, the
cruiser sailed on, and Jay was enabled to board
his own vessel, and soon joined his wife and
children at Plymouth. The property they had

4- Grosse Horloge.
5. Place Barentin.

ij^ J)'i-:ii.\

ANDRE BERNON. 319

been able to carry with them, together with the Chap. v.
proceeds of the sale of the ship and its cargo, 1685.
sufficed to maintain the refugees in comfort
during their remaining years.

But the anxieties of this Huguenot family
were not over. The elder of Pierre Jay's two
sons, Auguste, now a young man just come of
asre, was absent from La Rochelle at the time
of his parents' flight, having been sent by his
father upon a voyage to some part of Africa.
On his return to La Rochelle, he found his home
deserted, his father's property confiscated, and
his religious faith interdicted. By the kindness
of an aunt, Madame Mouchard, young Jay was
able to secrete himself, until an opportunity was
found for his escape from France. He reached
the West Indies in safety, and made his way to
South Carolina, where he intended to settle, but
finally established himself in the city of New
York.^

The fortunes of Gabriel Bernon, the emigrant
to Massachusetts, were not less varied. His
father, Andre Bernon, the merchant of La
Rochelle to whom reference has been made on
a preceding page, died some years before the
Revocation,^ leaving five sons and five daughters,

' The life of John Jay : with Selections from his Corre-
spondence and Miscellaneous Papers. By his son, William
Jay. New York : 1833. Vol. L, pp. 3-6.

La Rochelle d'Outre-Mer : Jean Jay. Par L. M. de
Richemond. Revue Chretienne, 1879, p. 547

* He was living at the time of Gabriel's marriage, when
he signed the marriage contract, 23 August, 1673. His wife,
Suzanne Guillemard, was then already deceased.— Bernon -
Papers, MS.

320 FLIGHT FROM LA ROCHELLE AND AUNIS.

Chap^v. all of whom had reached maturity/ Andre, the
16S5. eldest, was a prosperous banker, and an " ancien "
of the Huguenot church. When Arnou, the
cruel governor, called before him the heads of
families that remained steadfast in their faith,
after the first domiciliary visits of the soldiery,
and threatened them with utter ruin should they
persist in their obstinate course, Andre Bernon
Brutality exclaimed with tears, " Sir, you would have me
Arnou. ^osQ my soul ! siuce it is impossible for me to
believe what the religion you bid me embrace
teaches." " Much do I care," was the brutal re-
ply, " whether you lose your soul or not, provided
you obey." ^ Andre Bernon did not long survive
the destruction of his beloved church and the
dispersion of his brethren. He died soon after

' Andre Bernon's sons were : Andre, Samuel, Jean, (born
in 1659,) Gabriel, (born April 6, 1644,) and Jaccjues. His
daughters were : Esther, Jeanneton, (married Jean Allaire,)
Eve, (married Pierre Sanceau,) Suzanne, (married Paul de
Pont,) and Marie (married Benjamin Faneuil).

^ " II y en avoit encore plus de huit cents [families] qui
tenoient bon. Le sieur Arnou (Intendant) fit venir de ces
derniers ches lui le Samedi 6 Octobre, et apres leur avoir
reproche qu' ils etoient des opiniatres enrages et des rebelles
aux volontes de leur souverain, il les menaya de les abymer,
a moins qu'ils ne lui donnassent parole de se faire instruire.
Tous, a la reserve d'un ou de deux, temoignerent de la fer-
mete. Ce fut alors que le S'' Andre Bernon, qui avoit et6
un des anciens du Consistoire, et qui etoit un des bons
marchans de la ville, lui dit en pleurant, et d'une maniere
qui en fit pleurer d' autres. Vaus m' allez damner, Alon-
seigiicur, puisqii il ni est impossible de ci'oire ce (jii enseigne
la Rcligio7i qu on vent que j eiiibrasse ; a quoi le sieur Arnou
repliqua avec insulte, Je me soucie bien que vous vous
damniez ou non, pourvil qjie vous obe'issiez."

SAMUEL AND JEAN BERNON. 321

the Revocation, and was buried by night in his chap. v.
own garden at Perigny.' 1685.

Samuel and Jean, the second and third sons
of Andre Bernon, senior, forsook the faith of
their parents, and became zealous Romanists.
Samuel's conversion had occurred long before the
Revocation, in 1660,^ shortly after his marriage
with the daughter of a Huguenot minister, who
was himself on the point of conforming to the
Church of Rome.^ Some of his letters to Ga-
briel, in reply to his brother's unsparing stric-
tures upon that Church, are extant, and reveal
at once the sincerity of the writer, and his cred-
ulous acquiescence in the errors and fabrications
of Rome. Jean was a more recent proselyte.
Educated for the Protestant ministry, he became
pastor of the Reformed church of Saint Just,*
near Marennes, in the province of Saintonge:
but at the time of the Revocation, he followed
the example of his brother Samuel, and like him

Histoire des Reformez de la Rochelle, etc., pp. 297-281,

^02.

'' Filleau, Dictionnaire historique et genealogique des
families de I'ancien Poitoii. Vol. I., p. 313.

' Marie Cottiby, daughter of Samuel Cottiby, pastor at
Poitiers, 1653 to 1660. Complaint of his conduct while
pastor having been made to the Synod of Loudun, Cottiby
iiastened to abjure Protestantism. He was rewarded with
the ofifice of king's attorney for the district of La Rochelle.
— (Lievre, Histoire des protestants et des eglises reform^es
du Poitou, in., 78,79.) La France Protestante, deuxieme
edition, vol. II., p. 390, erroneously states that Samuel Ber-
non's/<:7///.?/-, as well as his father-in-law, abjured Protest-
antism on this occasion.

' Pasteur de S. Just, 1661-77, mais qui abjura h la Revo-
cation.— La France Protestante.

322 FLIGHT FROM LA ROCHELLE AND AUNIS.

Chap. V. escaped the miseries that befell others of his
1685. kindred. Samuel, " sieur de Salins" — his Hugue-
not name/ the only trace he retained of a Hu-
guenot extraction — lived in comfort, if not in
luxury, in the city of Poitiers, in Poitou, "hav-
ing acquired a large fortune while engaged in
commercial transactions, both in America and
Europe."'' Jean, "sieur de Luneau,"^ resided
in Marennes, or in the neighboring parish of
Saint Just, where he had exercised his Protest-
ant ministry, and where he seems to have
acquired an estate, perhaps the reward of his

Fervent abjuration.-* He sometimes joined with Samuel
086 y es. .^ endeavors to persuade his fugitive brother
Gabriel, in America, and his sister Esther, then
in England, to come back to France, renounce
their heresy, and live under that king whose
subjects they were by birth. " Our brother de St.
Jeux [St. Just]," writes Samuel to Gabriel, " can
better than I explain to you the difficulties upon
matters of religion that may prevent you from
returning to your dear country. He has very
correct ideas on these matters; I do not think

' Samuel : " nom iniisite alors chez les catholiques, et en
honneur chez les protestants." — Histoire de la colonie fran-
9aise du Canada. L Note XXI.

' Filleaii, Dictionnaire des families de I'ancien Poitou. I.,

P- 313-

^ Sgr du fief de Feusse et du fief Luneau. — Fdleau.

* Jean Bernon is repeatedly mentioned by Samuel in his
letters to Gabriel, as "notre frere de St. jeux" — /. c, St.
Just. Gabriel names him but once. In an inventory of his
property on leaving La Rochelle, " mons^'o Jean Bernon
mon frere" is mentioned as owing him a sum of ^14°'
under the head " Dettes douteuses."

GABRIEL BERNON. 3^3

that he makes as much use of them as he chap. v.
should." ' 1685.

Gabriel Bernon, fourth son of Andre, had
reached the age of forty-one at the time of the
Revocation.^ Associated with his father, and
succeeding him in business, he was now one of
the leading merchants of La Rochelle. His
accounts show very extensive commercial rela-
tions with the chief towns of the neighboring pro-
vinces— Poitiers, Limoges, Angouleme, Niort,
Chatellerault, Loudun, and other places ; and a
foreign trade with Martinique, St. Christopher,
Cayenne, and St. Domingo. More important
than any of these transactions, however, had
been the trade with Canada. In Quebec, as we
have seen already, he was recognized as the
principal French merchant, and as having ren-
dered great services to the colony. But he was
also an inflexible Huguenot : and the clergy, to
whom just now the destruction of heresy was
the only consideration, were bent upon his ruin.
" It is a pity," wrote the governor of Canada.
" that he cannot be converted. As he is a Hu-
guenot, the bishop wants me to order him home
this autumn, which I have done, though he
carries on a large business, and a ^'rea^ deal of

' Jean Bernon died in or before the year 1714.

^ " Le Mardy douziesme Apruil mil six cents quarante
quattre a este Baptize par Mons"". Vincent ; Gabriel fils de
Andre Bernon et de Suzanne Guillemard — parrain Gabriel
Prieur marrayne Marie Guillemard ; II est ne le sixiesme
dudit mois Signe G. Prieur P. Vincent. Cy dessus est
Extraict du papier des Baptesmes du Consistoire de la
Rochelle. A. Bernon." — Bernon Papers, MSS.

324 FLIGHT FROM LA ROCHELLE AND AUNIS.

Chap. V. money rcjuains due to hhn here." Recantation
1685. o^ ''uiri — the Huguenot merchant was to make
his choice. Gabriel Bernon reached La Ro-
chelle in the height of the persecution that had
commenced in the spring preceding. He was
thrown into prison, where he languished for
some months.' An interesting memorial of this
period of suffering is preserved by one of
his descendants in Rhode Island : a French
psalter, of microscopic size, given him, it is
said, by a fellow-prisoner in the tower of La

Bernon's Lanterne. After some months, he was released,
^to^^ perhaps through the influence of his Roman

HoUand. C^tholic brothers : and soon after, having made
such disposition of his remaining property as
he could make, he found means to escape from
France to Holland. His wife, Esther Le Roy,
endeavored to accompany him, but was arrested
in the attempt. She feigned conversion, was
released, and soon rejoined her husband.^

Andre Sigourney, and Charlotte Pairan his
wife, were living in comfortable circumstances
in La Rochelle, when the quartering of troops
commenced. Determined not to renounce their
faith, they laid their plans for escape, and suc-

' His goods were seized on the thirteenth of October,
1685. His imprisonment probably extended from this date
to the beginning of May, 1686, Avhen, upon his release, he
prepared a balance-sheet, showing the condition of his
affairs. This document is headed "A la Rochelle, le 10
May 1686. P^xtrait de ce quy mest Dh'eu en Divers endroits,
dont jay mis les partes en mains de mons'". Sanceau, le
10^ May 1686."

' La France Protestante : deuxieme edition, vol. H., p.
391-

RELATIVES IN CONVENTS AND GALLEYS. 325

ceeded in quietly transferring a portion of their chap. v.
effects to a vessel in the harbor. The day fixed i^r
upon for the attempt to leave, was a holiday.
The family provided a bountiful feast for the
soldiers billeted upon them, and while these
were in the height of their carousal, they de-
parted unobserved. The weather was stormy,
and they had a rough and perilous passage
across the channel, but reached England safely.

Often, the happiness of those who effected
their escape was overcast by sadness, in view
of the failure of others in the same attempt.

Many of our refugee families left behind them
those near and dear to them ; the men — if stead-
fast in their faith — liable to be shut up in prisons ;
the women, sent to convents, worse than
prisons. Pierre Sanceau, Gabriel Bernon's
brother-in-law, reached England almost penni-
less. "As for my poor wife and daughter," he
says, " they are still in La Rochelle. They
have been repeatedly sent to the convents.
Just now, they are out, but on warning."

The two sons of Roch Chastaignier, seigneur
de Cramahe, who fled from La Rochelle, and
reached South Carolina, had an elder brother.
Hector Francois Chastaignier, who sought to
make his escape at the same time, but was cap-
tured. Thrown into prison, and subjected to
the most shameful maltreatment, he displayed a
heroic fortitude and a constancy worthy of the
early martyrs."

' In the lists of persons who suffered persecution in
Aunis, we recognize not a few namesakes of our American

326 FLIGHT FROM LA ROCHELLE AND AUNIS.

Chap. V. refugees. Benoist, the historian of the Edict of Nantes,
— mentions the following: G. Cothonneau, E. Dechezault,

1685. C. Ayrault, I. Valleau, P. Valleau, Chaille, Etienne Jou-
neau, Daniel Renault, Philippe Janvier, Gregoire Gougeon,
Beaudoin, France, Du Tay, Nicolas Rappe, Alaire, Mercier,
Papin. Samuel Pintard — doubtless a relative of the refugee
in New York — was in 1695 a galley-slave upon the ship La
Grande.

APPENDIX.

ERRATA.

VOLUME I.

Page vi., line 31, for " 1879," read " 1877."

Page viii., line 4, for "John William," read " William John."

Page 31, lines 14, 15, for " two furlongs," read "six furlongs." 57.

Page 35, lines 22, 23, read "impetuous."

Page 121, line 7, for " were," read " was."

Page 175, line 3 from foot, for "the time," read "at the time."

Page 222, note, line 4, for " Benoist, V.," read " Benoist, IV."

Page 224, last line, " " " "

Page 263, line 25, read " The present chapter and the following one."

Page 276, line 11, for "after," read "shortly before."

Page 320, note, line 2, for "1659," read "1639."

VOLUME IL

Page 97, lines 3, 22, for " Orleannais," read "Orleanais."

Page 124, line 6 from foot, for " Paul," read "Jean."

Page 125, lines 11, 12, from foot, for " Marguerite," read " Louise. '

Page 148, margin, for" 1684-1686," read " 16S1-16S6."

Page 218, line 2 from foot, for " Edict," read " Edit."

Page 241, line 20 from foot, omit " au."

videantur, pr^eferre instituit. Carnis certe indicium hoc vix ad-
mittit, quandoquidem antiquitas apud eum multum potest: eo
usque tamen pervenit ut aniinum suum sancto puroque Dei verbo
regi sinat. Honeste et prudenter familias suse praeest, quas illius
ecclesiae speciem prseferre videtur quam in dome sue habebant
Priscilla aut Aquilla aut illius quas apud Nympham erat. Quo
fit ut speremus brevi futurum ut inde prodeant amplissimae

/ic

; w

APPENDIX

LETTER OF THE MINISTERS RICHER AND CHARTIER
TO CALVIN.

[See above, pages 41, 42.]

RICHERIUS ET CHARTERIUS CALVINO.

* * * Quum enim ad eum locum pervenissemus in quo is erat 1557.
qui partim sua autoritate, partim consilio, partim sumptibus (quaiv
turn ei licet) huius ecclesia; primordia curat, qui et huius nostri
instituti dux et caput est, in Gallia multa nobis resolvenda fuerunt
in quibus sapientia divina clarissime apparuit. Alia prseterea iliic
gesta sunt, verum talia quee nos consolare potius quam tristitia
afficere deberent : prcesertim quum videremus multos verbi Dei
cupidos, et ea quae nobis necessaria essent polliceretur qui
prsestare poterat, turn ad libros emendos, tum ad vestimenta
comparanda, tum ad itineris sumptus faciendos. Quum autem
pervenissemus Lutetiam, ecclesiam Christi illic congregatam
optime verbo Dei comperimus, unde maxime sumus consolati,
videntes adimpleri Davidis vaticinium quo praevidebat Christi
regnum in medio inimicorum suorum stabile fore, quod te
nostris ad te Uteris iam intellexisse confidentes pluribus verbis non
prosequemur. Peracto Lutetise omni nostro negotio appuiimus
portuum maris vulgo appellatum Honnefleur: die autem Novem-
bris 19 ingressi sumus naves quarum ministerio hue usque tandem
pervenimus hancque insulam quam appellant de Couligni intro-
ivimus die 7 Martii, ubi coelitus nobis paratum invenimus et
patrem et fratrem Nicolaum Villagaignoneni. Patrem dico quia
nos uti filios amplectitur, alit et fovet, fratrem vero quia nobiscum
unicum patrem coelestem Deum invocat, lesum Christum solum
esse Dei et hominum mediatorem credit, in eius iustitia se coram
Deo iustum esse non dubitat, spiritus sancti interno molu apud se
ipsum experitur se vere membrum Christi esse : cuius rei testi-
monia non pauca vidimus. Delectatur enim verbo Dei, cui ne
doctorum quidem antiquorum dogmata, quamvis multis sacra
videantur, prsferre instituit. Carnis certe indicium hoc vix ad-
mittit, quandoquidem antiquitas apud eum multum potest : eo
usque tamen pervenit ut animum suum sancto puroque Dei verbo
regi sinat. Honeste et prudenter familicC su^e prasest, quae illius
ecclesiae speciem prseferre videtur quam in domo suo habebant
Priscilla aut Aquilla aut illius quae apud Nympham erat. Quo
fit ut speremus brevi futurum ut inde prodeant amplissimas

330 APPENDIX.

1557- ecclesiae quEe laudem Dei celebrent et Christi regnum augeant.
Is enim optimum sincei'Ee verseque Christianas religionis exemplar
et dux se ipsum prsebuit, turn in audiendis publicis concionibus et
orationibus, quibus aderant et omnes eius domestici, tum in perci-
pienda sacra coena Christi quam avidissime et religiosissime ex-
cepit. Priusquam autem ad hoc coeleste conviviuni accederet,
pubHcam fidei suae confessionem ciara voce protulit, et Solomonem
imitatus locum in quo eramus congregati precibus Deo se dicare
declaravit, seque et sua omnia ad eius gloriam propagandam parata
esse professus est.

Sed ne historian! texere potius quam te nostrarum rerum cer-
tiorem facere videamur, reliquorum narrationem tabellario familiar-
issime tibi cognito relinquentes, a quo privatis colloquutionibus
qusecunque nobis acciderunt poteris intelligere, scriptis nostris
finem imponemus : modo te rogaverimus ut tuas praeces in con-
spectu Dei effundas, quo perperficiat Christi sedificium quod in
his terrje finibus inchoatum est, et admoneas omnes quos Deum
timere et exanimo venerari cognoscis, ut idem tecum agant. Hoc
autem Eleutheropoli [Gc/ievo'], cui te ministrum evangelii pras-
posuit, iam absolutum prscamur ut conserveret, foveat, in tran-
quillo et pacato statu retineat, simulque suas ecclesias ubique sua
paterna dementia congregatas coelesti fortitudine rnuniat. Col-
legas tuos omnes saluta, si lubet, nostro nomine, nominatim
autem Nicolaum Galaztum, P. Viretum et Theodorem Bezam.
Insulje Couligniensi qua; prima Francorum exculta fuit habitatio
in Antarctica Gallia. Cal. Aprilis anno 1556.1

Tui fratres quos evangelii ministros esse iussisti.

G. CHARTERIUS, RK'HERIUS,

tuus in Christo. tuus in Christo.

Corpus Reformatorum, Vol. XLIV. Joannis Calvini Opera
quas supersunt omnia. Edjderunt Gulielmus Baum, Eduardus
Cunitz, Eduardus Reuss, Theologi Argentoratenses, Vol. XVI.
Brunsvigas, 1877. No. 2613. Richerius et Charterius Calvino. A
Monsr. despeville. Pp. 440-3-

( Translation.)

* * * For, when we had come to that place in which he
resided who, partly by his influence, partly by counsel, partly by
expenditure of money (so far as he can) looks to the first begin-
nings of this church, who also is leader and head of this undertak-
ing of ours, we had many things to settle in which the Divine wis-
dom most clearly appeared. Moreover, other matters were done
there, but such as ought rather to cheer than to sadden us: espe-
cially since we saw many persons eager for the word of God, and
he who could afford it promised those things that we needed both
for the purchase of books, and the obtaining of clothing, and the ex-
penses of the journey. When, however, we reached Paris, we
ascertained that a church of Christ had there been gathered in the

> In anno manifestus error.

APPENDIX. 331

best manner according to God's word, whereby we were most '557-
greatly cheered, seeing the fulfiHment of David's prophecy who
foresaw that Christ's kingdom would be established in the midst
of His enemies. Being confident that you already understand this
by our letters to you, we shall say no more. All our business being
transacted at Paris, we pushed on to the seaport commonly called
Honfleur. On the 19th day of November we embarked on vessels,
by means of which we at length came hither, and entered upon
this island which they call de Couligni, on the 7th day of March,
where we found there had been provided for us by Heaven, both
as father and brother, Nicholas Villegaignon. I style him father,
because he embraces, nurtures and cherishes us as sons; and
brother, because with us he invokes God as his only heavenly
Father. He l)elieves Jesus Christ to be the only Mediator between
God and men, he does not doubt that in His justice he is just be-
fore God, by the inner moving of the Holy Ghost within him he
knows from experience that he is in truth a member of Christ : of
which thing we have seen not a few proofs. For he delights in the
word of God, to which he purposes to prefer not even the tenets of
ancient doctors, however many may hold them sacred. This certainly
scarcely leaves room for the judgment of the flesh, since antiquity
has great weight with him : to this point, however, has he come
that he permits his mind to be governed by the holy and pure
word of God. Honestly and prudently does he preside over his
family, which seems to present the appearance of that church
which Priscilla and Aquila had in their house, or of that which was
in the house of Nymphas. Hence we hope that there shall shortly
come forth from it most illustrious cliurches that shall publish
abroad the praise of (iod and increase the kingdom of Christ. For
this man has shown himself a most excellent exemplar of and guide
to sincere and true Christian religion, both by attending upon pub-
He meetings and sermons, at which also all those of his house
were present, and in partaking of the holy Supper of Christ, which
he has received with the utmost eagerness and devotion. But be-
fore approaching this heavenly feast, he made with a clear voice
a public profession of his faith, and, imitating Solomon, declared
that he dedicated the place wherein we were gathered by pray-
ers to God, and announced that he and all his goods were conse-
crated to the spread of His glory.

But lest we should seem to be weaving a tale, rather than in-
forming you respecting our affairs, we shall leave the narration of
the rest to the bearer, who is most familiarly known to you, from
whom you will be able to learn in private conversation whatever
has happened to us, and shall close our letter.

Only we shall ask you to pour out your prayers in God's sight,
that He may perfect the building of Christ that has been begun in
these ends of the earth, and to exhort all those whom you know to
fear and heartily to reverence God, to unite with you in doing the
same thing. This also we now pray earnestly for Eleutheropolis
[the "Free City" — sc, Geneva], over which He has placed you as a
minister of the Gospel, that He may presen'e, foster, maintain it
in tranquillity and peace, and at the same time arm with heavenly

332 APPENDIX.

1557. courage His churches everywhere gathered through His fatherly
mercy. Salute all your colleagues, if you please, in our name, and
by name Nicholas des Gallars, Pierre Viret and Theodore de
B^ze. On the Island de Coligni which is the first civilized habita-
tion of the French in Antarctic France, April ist, 1556.'

Your brethren whom you bade to be ministers of the Gospel.
G. Chartier, Richer,

Yours in Christ, Yours in Christ.

LETTER OF THE MINISTER RICHER TO AN UN-
KNOWN CORRESPONDENT.

[See above, pages 41, 42.]
RICHERIUS INCERTO.

Gratia et pax a Deo per lesum Christum.

Nolui oblatam occasionem prEeterire, frater, quin tuam human-
itatem de rebus nostris certiorem facerem : inprimis notum tibi
esse velim beneficiuin, quod a Domino hactenus accepimus, ut
eiusdem bonitati digneris nobiscum gratis referre. Id utique est
quemadmodum optamus. Quandoquidem omnium nostrum
talem pro sua bonitate habuit curam, ut per tarn varia terrarum et
maris discrimina, omnes nos ad portum sanos et incolumes per-
duxerit. Satan quidem, ut est sui siniilis, diversis nos in itinere
exposuit periculis : sed ut filii (etsi hoc nomine indigni) experti
sumus semper tanti patris manum auxiliatricem : quam etiam
benigne exporrigit in dies magis ac magis erga nos. Altero die
postquam appulimus Villagagiio voluit verbum Dei publice
praedicari : deinde subsequenti hebdomada sacrosanctam Christi
coenam administrari expetivit, quam et ipse cum aliquot e suis
domesticis religiose adiit, reddita primum suae fidei ratione cum
magna ecclesite quae aderat aedificatione. Quid commodius
nostro instituto contingere poterat } Quid demum votis omnibus
nostrum respondisset opportunius, quam ut his tesseris apud nos
vera appareret ecclesia .'^ Talibus beneficiis dignatus est nos
prosequi benignus ille summus pater. Regio hsc autem, quod sit
inculta raroque habitatore, nihil fere profert quod nostrates vel
gustare vellent. Milium quidem, ficus sylvestres et quasdam
radices quibus farinam ad viaticum conficiunt, suis gignit incolis.
Panem vero non habet, nee vinum aut quid vino proximum pro-
fert. Imo nee fructum aliquem (quem noverim) quo quandoque
usi fuerimus. Nihilominus tamen nobis bene est.et recta valemus :
imo ut me exempli vice proferam, vegetior sum solito : sed et id
omnibus aliis commune est. Beneficium aeri adscriberet physicus,
qui adeo temperatus sit ut nostro respondeat Maio. Sed ne tanta

' That is " avant Paques," Old Style, but New Style, Thursday, April
I, 1557-

APPENDIX. 333

summo illi maximo et optimo numini irrogetur iniuria, dicam quod 1557

sentio. Hoc modo paternum suum affectum nobis aperit bonus

ille coelestis pater, qui hie in tam barbaro et agresti solo suum

nobis ministrat favorem, adeo ut experiamur viaticum hominis

pendere non e pane, sed e verbo Dei, cuius favor liic nobis est

omnium delitiarum loco. Unum est quod nos non mediocriter

urget et angit, populi scilicet barbaries, quae tanta est ut maior esse

non possit. Non affero, quod sint anthropophagi, quod tamen

illis adeo vulgare est ut nil magis : sed cloleo crassam mentis

eorum hebetudinem, qus mediis in tenebris tamen est palpabilis.

De virtute patris quamvis ethica* nihil norunt prorsus, bonum a *£tlmica!

malo non secernunt, denique vitia quee natura in casteris gentibus

naturaliter arguit loco virtutis habent : saltern vitiorum turpitudi-

nem non agnoscunt, adeo ut hac in re a brutis parum differant.

Cieterum quod omnium perniciosissimum est, latet eos an sit

Deus, tantum abest ut legem eius observent, vel potentiam et

bonitatem eius mirentur: quo fit ut prorsus sit nobis adempta

spes lucrifaciendi eos Christo : quod ut omnium est gravissimum,

ita inter csetera maxime aegre ferimus. Audio quidem qui mox

obiiciet eos tabulam rasam esse, quae facile suis possit depingi

coloribus, quod nativo huiusmodi colorum splendori nihil habeat

contrarium. Sed norit ille quantum impediat idiomatum diversitas.

Adde quod desunt nobis interpretes, qui Domino sint fideles.

Proposueramus quidem illorum ministerio et industria uti : scilicet

reperimus illos ipsissima esse Satanas membra, quibus nihil magis

invisum quam sanctum Christi evangelium. Proinde hac in re

nobis operas pretium est sistere gradum, patienterque exspectare,

donee adolescentuli, quos Dominus a ViZ/agag none h3.rh3.ns huius

patriae tradidit erudiendos. norint naturalem ipsorum distinguere

linguam. Ad hoc enim illi apud eos degunt et versantur. Faxit

Deus ut sit hoc illis citra aliquod animarum suarum periculum.

Nam ubi hoc munere nos donarit Altissimus, speramus banc

Idumeam futuram Christo possessionem. Interim expectamus

frequentiorem populum, cuius conversatione et formetur haec natio

barbara, et nostra ecclesia suum accipiat incrementum. Abunda-

remus utique omni bonorum copia, si hie frequens adesset populus.

Nam quod tenuis et modica sit annona, id etficit rarus habitator,

et somnolentus agricola. Sed iis omnibus prospiciet Altissimus.

Nos vero nostratum omnium ecclesiarem precibus conimendari

obnixe cupimus. Ex Gallia antarctica, pridie Aprilis, 1557.

Tuus P. RiCHERIUS.
Joannis Calvini Opera quee supersunt omnia. Volumen XVI.,
p. 433. No. 2609. Richerius incerto. Primitise Brasilianse.

( Translation.)

Grace and peace from God through Jesus Christ.

I was unwilling to neglect the opportunity that offered, brother,
to inform your excellence respecting our affairs. First of all, I
would wish you to know the favor we have thus far received from
God, in order that you may deign with us to render thanks to His
goodness. That certainly is as we wish. Since in His goodness

1557-

334 APPENDIX.

He has had such a care of all ours, that through so various
dangers of land and sea. He has brought us all safe and sound to
port. Satan, indeed, as he is ever like himself, exposed us on the
way to different dangers : but as sons (although unworthy of this
name) we have always experienced the helping hand of so great a
Father : which also He benignantly extends to us more and more
from day to day. The day after our arrival, Villegagnoii wished
the word of God to be publicly preached : then on the following
v.'eek [Lord's Day] he asked that the holy Supper of Christ should
be administered, which he also himself religiously approached
with some of those of his household, after first having made a
profession of his faith, to the great edification of the church that
was present. What could have happened more favorable to our
design.'' What indeed would have more opportunely answered all
our wishes, than that by these tokens a true church might appear
among us.' With such favors has the supreme Father deigned to
follow us. This region, however, because it is uncultivated and
sparsely inhabited, produces scarcely any thing that our men will
even taste. It brings forth for its inhabitants, indeed, millet, wild figs,
and certain roots with which they prepare flour for sustenance.
But it has no bread, nor does it produce wine or any thing re-
sembling wine; nay, not even any fruit (that I know) which we
have ever used. Nevertheless, we are in good condition and very
well : nay, to bring myself forward as an example, I am more
vigorous than usual : but this is also the common experience of
all the rest. A natural philosopher would ascribe the benefit to
the air, which is so mild as to correspond with our month of May.
But lest so great a wrong should be done to that greatest and
highest Being, I shall say what I think. In this way does our
heavenly Father show us his paternal affection, who here in so
barbarous and savage a soil ministers to us His favor, so that we
learn from experience that man's sustenance depends not on
bread, but on the word of God, whose favor is here in lieu of all
delights to us. There is one thing that burdens and grieves us
not a little, namelv, the barbarism of the people, which is so great
that there cannot be greater. I do not refer to the fact that they
are man-eaters, a thing so common with them, however, that
nothing is more common : but I mourn the gross dullness of their
minds, which in the midst of the darkness still can be felt. Of a
Or, father's virtue, however moral, * they know nothing whatever;
albeit they do not discern good from bad ; in fine, the vices which nature
among other nations naturally condemns they hold as virtue : at
least they do not recognize the baseness of vices, so that in this
matter they differ little from the brutes. But what is most per-
nicious of all, they know not whether there be a God, so far are they
from observing His law, or admiring His power and goodness :
hence it arises that the hope of gaining them for Christ is quite
taken away from us : which as it is of all things most grievous, so
among others we are most distressed by it. I hear, indeed, some
one objecting that these men are a tabula rasa, which can easily
be painted with its colors, because it contains nothing contrary to
such a native resplendence of colors. But let him know how great

heathen
ish.

APPENDIX. 335

an obstacle is the diversity of language. Add to this that we 15 57.
have a lack of interpreters that are faithful to the Lord. We had
intended, indeed, to employ the services and activity of those
[we had] : but we have found them to be the very limbs of Satan,
to whom nothing is more hateful than Christ's holy Gospel. There-
fore in this matter it is best for us to pause and wait patiently,
until some young men, whom the Sieur de Villcgagiio)i has given
over to be taught to the barbarians of this country, shall have
learned to comprehend the native tongue of the latter. For, with
this end in view, they are spending their time and occupying them-
selves among them. God grant that this may be without any peril
to their souls ! For when the Most High siiall have vouchsafed
us this gift, we hope that this Edom will be Christ's possession.
Meanwhile we are expecting a more numerous population, by
association with which both this barbarous nation may be fash-
ioned, and our church may be increased. Certainly we should
have an abundance of good things, if there were here a large
population. For that the harvest is light and moderate is occa-
sioned by the fewness of the inhabitants and the sluggishness of
the tillers of the soil. But for all these things the Most High will
provide. We earnestly desire to be commended to the prayers of
all our churches. From Antarctic France, the day before the
Calends of April [March 31st] 1557. Your P. Richer.

Complete extant Works of John Cah'in. Volume XVI., p. 433.
No. 2609. Richer to an uncertain correspondent. First fruits of
Brazil.

LETTER OF VILLEGAGNON TO CALVIN.

[See above, pages 42, 43.]
VILLEGAGNON CALVINO.

Exprimi non posse puto quo me affecerint gaudio tuse literae, et
qui ad me una venere fratres. Hue me redactum invenerunt, ut
mihi magistratus gerendus esset et munus ecclesiasticum sub-
eundum. Quje mihi res maximam anxietatem obtulerat. Ozias
ab hac vitae ratione me avertebat : sed prsestandum erat neoperarii
nostri quos mercede traduxeram gentis adducti consuetudine eius
se vitiis contaminarent, aut religionis desuetudine in h-oa-raoLv
devolverentur. Ouam mihi soUicitudinem ademit fratrum adven-
tus. Adiecit hoc etiam commodi quod si qua ex causa post hac
erit nobis laborandum aut periculum incurrendum, non deerunt
qui sint mihi soUitio et me consilio invent. Cuius rei facultatem
abstulerat periculi nostri suspicio. Qui enim fratres mecum a
Francia traiecerant, rerum nostrarum iniquitate permoti alius alia
causa illata yEg\^ptum repetiverant. Qui fuerunt reliqui homines
egentes mercede conduct! quos pro tempore nancisci potueram,
eorum heec erat conditio ut ab eis mihi potius esset metuendum
quam petendum solatium. Hsec autem huius rei causa est. Ubi

136

APPENDIX.

1557. appulimus simul omnis generis se nobis opposuere difficultates, ut
vix inirem rationem quid potissimum esset agendum. Regio erat
incultissima, nulla erant tecta, rei frumentariie nulla copia. Sed
aderant homines feri, ab omni cultu et humanitate alieni, moribus
et disciplina penitus a nobis discrepantes, sine religione, honoris,
virtutis, recti aut iniusti ulla notitia, ut me subitet dubitatio an in
bestias humana specie prseditas incidissemus. Contra heec in-
commoda erat summo studio et celeritate nobis prospiciendum et
comparandum remedium, dum naves ad reditum instruebantur, ne
eo subsidio destitutes indigence, rerum nostrarum capti cupiditate,
nos imparatos opprimerent et interticerent. Hue quoque accedebat
Lusitanorum infida vicinitas, qui [e/s/ \ quam incolimus regionem
tueri non potuerunt hue tamen [nos] esse intromissos ferunt sger-
rime et insano odio prosequ [7in/ur]. Eam ob rem uno tempore
haec omnia se nobis agenda proponebant. Receptui nostro locus
deligendus, expurgandus et complanandus, munitiones circumdu-
cendje, propugnacula excitanda, tecta ad impedimentorum custo-
diam exstruenda, materia conquirenda, et adverso colle locis
impeditissimis, humeris ob bestiarum penuriam comportanda.
Praeterea quod indigense in diem vivant et agriculturee non studeant
nuUo certo loco cibaria congesta reperiebamus, sed erat victus
noster e lonquinquo carptim petendus. Qua ex remanum nostram,
quantulacunque esset, disteneri oportebat et niinui. His adducti
difficultatibus qui mese amicitise causa sequuti fuerant rebus nostris
diffisi, ut supra demonstravimus, pedem retulerunt. Ego quoque
non nihil commotus sum. Sed quum mecum reputarem amicis
affirmasse, me hac ratione e Francia movere ut quam curam prius
rebus humanis impenderam eius studii comperta vanitate regno
Christi excolendo adhiberem, iudicavi me in voces et hominum re-
prehensionem incursurum et nomini meo iniuriam facturum, si
labor aut periculi opinio a coepto me deterreret. Prfeterea quum
Christi negotium gerendum esset, credidi hunc mihi non defuturum
sed ad felicem exitum perducturum. Ergo me confirmavi vimque
omnem ingenii intendi in rationem eius rei perticiendas quam sum-
ma vitse meje devotione susceperam. Hac autem via id assequi
me posse existimavi, si vitse integritate hoc meum propositum
comprobarem, et quam operariorum manum traduxeram ab infi-
delium consortio et familiaritate averterem. In eam sententiam
animo rr.eo inclinato non sine Dei providentia factum esse visum
est ut in hcec negotia involveremur, sed id accidisse ne otio cor-
rupti libidini et lascivise operam daremus. Prseterea succurrit
nihil esse tam arduum quin conando superari possit. Proinde ab
animi fortitudine petendum esse auxilium et continenti labore fam-
iliam exercendam : huic nostro studio Dei beneficientiam non
defuturam. Itaque in insulam duobus millibus passuum a conti-
nenti remotam transmissimus, ibique domicilio nostro locum
delegi, ut adempta fugse facu \ltaie inanuin 7iostram in] officio
continerem. et quod feminas sin[^' 7^/'r/s silt's 710JI esseni, ad] nos
commeaturEe delinquendi occasionem [prariperetn. Accidit
tamen] ut e mercenariis 26 voluptatis illecti cupiditate in xvi\eam
vitam conspiraverint]. Sed die constituta consilio exsequendo
res vc\\\hi per umtm ex] consciis enunciata es ipso momento quo

APPENDIX. 2,Z7

ad me opprimen[^/z/w] arniati admaturabant, hoc modo periculum ice;
effugimus. Ouinque e nieis domesticis ad arma convocavi et ad-
versum ire coepi. Turn tantus coniuratis incessit terror tantaque
perturbatio, ut nullo negotio facinoris autores quatuor, qui niihi
fuerant designati, corripuerimus et in vincula coniecerimus. Eo
casu reliqui consternati positis arniis delituerunt. Postridie unum
catenis exsolvimus ut causam suam diceret liberius. Sed effuse
cursu in mare se prsecipitem egit et suffocavit. Reliqui ut e vin-
culis causam dicerent adducti sine quajstione ultro exposuerunt
quae per indicem comperta habuimus. Unus ex ipsis, paulo ante
a me castigatus quod se scorto coniunxisset, iniquiore esse mente
cognitus est, et ab se coniurationis initium factum esse, atque
scorti patrem muneribus devinxisse, ut eum e nostra potestate eripe-
ret, si scorti copulam prohibere contenderem. Hie suspendio
sceleris poenas luit : duoi)us reliquis delicti gratiam fecinuis, ita
tamen ut in catenis terram exercerent. In aliis quid esset ])eccati
exquirendum esse mihi non putavi, ne compertum scelus inultum
omitterem, aut si supplicio castigare vellem, quum facinus ;ul nuil-
titudinem pertineret, non superessent qui opus a nobis institutum
perticerent. Itaque dissimulata animi mei offensione peccatum
condonavimus, et onines animo bono esse iussimus. Non ita tamen
a soUicitudine nos abduximus quin quid in unoquoque esset animi
ex studio curaque sua quotidiana diligentissime venaremur. Et
quum labori eorum non parcerem, sed assidua mea prsesentia ad
opus eos urgerem, non solum pravis consiliis vitam prasclusimus
sed brevi tempore insulam nostram munitionibus [et iialidi |ssimis
propugnaculis sjepivimus. Interim pro ingenii mei \captu <^Jos
monere et a vitiis deterrere non desistebam, atque [wi7//]es eorum
Christiana imbuere religione, indictis a me mane \et \ vesperi
publicis et quotidianis precibus : qua cautione et diligentia re-
liquam anni partem quietiorem habuimus. Ccetcrum eam quam
exposuimus curam nobis ademit navium nostrarum adventus. Hinc
enim nactus sum viros a cjuibus non solum nuhi sit minime caven-
dum, sed quibus salutem meam tuto possim committere. Hac
oblata mihi facultate decern ex omni copia delegi, apud quos im-
perii nostripotestatem deposui, decernens ut nullee res posthac nisi
consilio gerantur. Adeo si quid in quemquam durius statuerem,
nisi consilii autoritas et consensus accederet, intirmum esset et in-
ane. Hoc tamen mihi reservavi ut lata sententia supplicii veniam
dare mihi liceat. Sic omnibus prodesse, nemini nocere possum.
Hce demum sunt artes quibus dignitatem nostram retinere tueri et
propugnare constitui.

Addam consilium quod Uteris tuis adhibuisti, summa animi con-
tentione operam daturus ut ne vel tantillum ab eo deflectamus.
Hoc enim certe nee sanctius nee rectius necsanius ullum esse per-
suasum habeo. Ouamobreni etiam tuas literas in senatu nostro
legendas, deinde in acta transscribendas curavimus ut, si cjuando a
cursu aberrare contigerit, earum lectio ab errore revocet. Dominus
noster lesus Christus ab omni malo te tuosque collcgas protegat,
spiritu suo vos confirmet vitamque vestram ad opus ecclesije suae
quam longissime producat. Fratribus meis carissimis Cephcr et de
la Flcchc tidelibus plurimam salutem meis verbis velim impertias.
Collignio e Francia antarctica prid. Cal. Aprilis 1557.

33^ APPENDIX.

^557- Si ad Rcnatam FranciEe heram nostram quidpiam literarum

dederis, banc qusso meo nomine diligentissime saluta. Tui aman-
tissimus cupidissinius et ex animo

a 1

loannis Calvini Opera quae supersunt omnia. Volumen XVI..
p. 437, No. 2612. Villegagnon Calvino. Historiam novas suae
colonise in Francia antarctica, quam vocat, enarrat.

( Translation.)

I deem it impossible to express with what gladness your letters,
and the brethren that came to me with them, have affected me.
They found me reduced to this necessity, that I must discharge
the office of magistrate and take upon me the ecclesiastical func-
tions. This thing had brought me very great anxiety. Ozias dis-
suaded me from this mode of life: but I had to discharge it lest our
workmen whom I had brought over on hire, led by the custom of
that class, should contaminate themselves with vices, or through
disuse of religion should fall into apostasy. This solicitude the
coming of our brethren removed from me. There was this ad-
ditional advantage that, should there hereafter from any cause be
labor or danger to be undergone by us, there will not be wanting
those that will be a comfort and will help me by their counsel.
The possibility of this had been taken away by the suspicion of
our danger. For the brethren that had come over with me from
France, induced by the unfavorable condition of our affairs, one
alleging one reason, another another, had sought Egypt again.
Those who remained, needy men hired for pay, whom I had ac-
cording to circumstances been able to find, were of such a condi-
tion that I had rather to entertain fear than to seek consolation
from them. This was the reason. The moment we arrived, diffi-
culties of every kind presented themselves to us, so that I scarcely
could determine what was best to be done. The region was most
uncultivated, there were no houses, there was no store of grain.
But there were here savages, strangers to all civilization and gen-
tleness, altogether dissimilar to us in manners and training, with-
out religion, with no knowledge of honor, virtue, justice or injus-
tice, so that the doubt entered my mind whether we had not fallen
upon beasts possessed of human form. For these disadvantages
we had to look out and provide a remedy, while the ships were
made ready for a return, lest the natives, seized upon by the desire
for our property, might overwhelm us destitute of help and unpre-
pared, and might slay us. To this was added the treacherous
proximity of the Portuguese, who, although they were unable to
retain the region which we inhabit, nevertheless are very greatly an-
noyed that we have entered it, and pursue us with insane hatred.
Consequently all these things presented themselves to be done at

' Nicolaus {Durand de Villegagnon). Siglum ita scriptum est ut
etiam V repraesentetur.

APPENDIX. 339

one and the same time : a spot was to be selected for our reception, 1557.
and was to be cleared and leveled ; fortifications were to be thrown
about it, defenses were to be reared, houses were to be erected for
the protection of our effects, timber was to be obtained, and to be
carried up hill, through places very difficult of passage, on the
shoulders of men, on account of the lack of beasts of burden.
Moreover because the natives live as best they can from day to day
and do not practice agriculture, we found stores of food brought
together in no certain place, but our means of subsistence had to
be sought, now here and now there, from afar. Hence our band,
small as it was, had to be scattered and diminished. Influenced
by these difficulties those who had followed me out of friendship,
being distrustful of our success, as I have above shown, retired.
I also was somewhat disturbed. But when I bethought myself that
I had asserted to my friends, that I was moved to depart from
France for this reason, that, having discovered the vanity of the
pursuit of human affairs, I might devote the care I had previously
given to them, to the promotion of the kingdom of Christ, I judged
that I should incur the talk and censure of mankind and wrong
my own name, should toil or belief of danger deter me from my
undertaking. Moreover when Christ's business was to be trans-
acted, I believed that He would not desert me but would lead me
to a happy issue. Therefore I took heart and bent the whole
energy of my mind to the mode of carrying to its completion the
matter I had undertaken with the supreme devotion of my life.
This I thought I might attain in this way : namely, if I should at-
test my purpose by the integrity of my life, and preclude the band
of workmen, which I had brought over with me, from association
and familiarity with the unbelievers. My mind being inclined to
this opinion, it seemed to have been brought to pass not without
the providence of God that we should be involved in these occupa-
tions, but that this had happened in order that we might not be cor-
rupted by idleness, and give ourselves up to lust and wantonness.
Moreover it occurred to me that nothing is so hard but that it can
be overcome by effort. Therefore help must be sought from
fortitude of mind, and the household must be trained by constant
labor: to this zeal of ours the kindness of God would not be lack-
ing. So we crossed to an island distant two miles from the con-
tinent, and there I chose a spot for our habitation, in order
that, the opportunity of flight being taken away, I might keep
our band in the path of duty ; and, since the women would not
come to us without their husbands, I might remove the occasion
for committing sin. It happened, however, that twenty-six of the
hired men, enticed by desire, conspired against my life. But, on
the day appointed for the execution of the plan, the matter being
announced to me by one of the culprits at the very moment when
armed men were preparing to overwhelm me, we escaped the danger
in the following manner : I called five of my domestics to arms
and advanced to meet the assailants. Then such terror and con-
fusion took possession of the conspirators, that without any trouble
we arrested and put in chains the four instigators of the crime who
had been pointed out to me. The rest, thrown into consternation

340 APPENDIX.

^557- by this incident, laid down their arms and skulked away. The
jiext day we relieved one of them of his chains in order that he
might more freely plead his cause. But starting off on a run he
threw himself into the sea and was drowned. The rest having
been brought out to plead in chains, without being put to torture,
of their own accord confessed what we had already learned through
the informer. One of them, having been punished by me, a short
time before, because he had had to do with a dissolute woman,
was known to be particularly ill-affected, and to have bribed the
woman's father to rescue him from our power, in case I should
apply myself vigorously to prevent his intercourse with her. This
man paid the penalty of his crime by being hung : the other two I
pardoned, but ordered that they should be set at work in the fields
in chains. I thought it best not to investigate the culpability of
the rest, lest I might leave a discovered crime unpunished, or, if I
wished to punish with death, as the crime involved a great number
of persons, there might not survive enough men to accomplish the
work begun by us. Therefore, dissembling the offense committed,
we forgave the sin and bade all be of good cheer. We could not
so free ourselves, however, from solicitude, as not to make most
diligent search to discover what was every man's disposition from
his zeal and daily pursuits. And inasmuch as I did not spare the
labors of the men, but urged them on to the work by my continual
presence, not only did we preclude their life from bad designs, but,
in a short space of time, we surrounded our island with fortifica-
tions and very strong defenses. Meantime, according to the power
of my understanding, I ceased not to admonish them and deter
them from vices, and to imbue their minds with the Christian re-
ligion, having appointed public daily prayers morning and evening.
In consequence of this caution and religion, we had more quiet
during the rest of the year. But the advent of our ships took
away the care which we have set forth. For here have I found
men, not only from whom I need in no wise stand on my guard,
but to whom I can securely commit my safety. Since the ability
has thus been offered to me, I have selected out of my entire force
ten men in whose hands I have placed the power in our govern-
ment, decreeing that hereafter nothing shall be done without the
council. Thus if I should decide with too much harshness against
any one, the sentence will be of no effect and void, unless the au-
thorization and agreement of the council be added. I have, how-
ever, reserved for myself the right to pardon, in case a sentence to
death has been rendered. Thus I can benefit all, be hurtful to no
one. These are the arts by means of which I have determined to
retain, protect and defend our dignity.

I shall add, respecting the advice which you have given in your
letters, that I shall give the greatest attention in order that we may
not turn aside from it even in the slightest particular. Of this I
am persuaded, that no advice is more holy, or just, or sound than
this. Wherefore also we have had your letters read in our sen-
ate, and then transcribed upon the records, in order that, if at any
time it should chance that we stray from the course, the reading of
them may recall us from our error. May our Lord Jesus Christ

APPENDIX. 341

protect you and your colleagues from all evil, may He confirm you leey
by His Spirit, and lengthen out as far as possible your life for the
work of His Church. I beg you to salute in my name my very
dear brethren the faithful Cephas and De la Fleche. At Coligny
in Antarctic France, the day before the Calends of April [March
31st,] 1557.

Should you write to Roi^e of France, our Mistress, I beg you
to salute her most diligently in my name.

Your most loving, eager and from the heart,

a 1

Nf
Complete extant Works of John Calvin. Volume XVI., p. 437.
No. 2612. Villegagnon to Calvin. He narrates the history of his
colony in Antarctic France, as he calls it.

COMMISSION OF HENRY IV. TO DE MONTS.

[See above, pages 85-88.]

"Commission du Roy au Sieur de Monts, pour I'habitation es 1603.
terres de la Cadie, Canada, & autres endroits en la Nouvelle
France. Ensemble les defenses i tons autres de" traffiquer avec
les sauvages desdittes terres.

" Henry par la grace de Dieu Roy de France & de Navarre, A
notre cher & bien ame le sieur de Monts, Gentil homme ordinaire
de notre Chambre, Salut. Comme notre plus grand soin et travail
soit & ait toujours este, depuis notre avenement 4 cette Couroime,
de la maintenir et conserver en son ancienne dignite, grandeur &
splendeur, d'etendre & amplifier autant que legitimement se peut
faire, les bornes & limites d'icelle. Nous estans des long temps a,
informez de la situation & condition des pais & territoire de la
Cadie, Meuz sur toutes choses d'un zele singulier & d'une devote
& ferme resolution que nous avons prinse, avec I'aide & assistance
de Dieu, autheur, distributeur & protecteur de tous Royaumes &
etats, de faire convertir, amener & instruire les peuples qui habitent
en cette contree, de present gens barbares, athees, sans foy ne
Religion, au Christianisme, Si. en la creance & profession de notre
foy & religion ; & les retirer de I'ignorance & infidelite ou ilz sont.
Ayans aussi des longtemps reconeu sur le rapport des Capitaines
de navires, pilotes, marchans & autres qui de longue main ont
hante, frequente, & traffique avec ce qui se trouve de peuples
esdits lieux, combien peut estre fructueuse, commode & utile 4
nous, a nos etats & sujets, la demeure, possession & habitation
d'iceux pour le grand & apparent profit qui se retirera par la
grande frequentation & habitude que Ton aura avec les peuples qui
s'y trouvent, & le trafic & commerce qui se pourra par ce moyen

1 Wicholas {Dtirand de Villegagnon). The abbreviation is thus writ-
ten in order that the V may also be represented.

342 APPENDIX.

jgQ-, seurement trailer et negocier. Nous pour ces causes k plein con-
fians de votre grande prudence, & en la conoissance & experience
que vous avez de la qualite, condition & situation dudit pais de la
Cadie : pour les diverses navigations, voyages, & frequentations
que vous avez fails en ces terres, & autres proches ti circonvoisines :
nous asseurans que cette notre resolution & intention, vous estant
commise, vous la sgaurez attentivement, diligemment, & non moins
courageusement, & valeureusenient executer & conduire a la per-
fection que nous desirous, Vous avons expressement commis &
etabli, & par ces presentes signees de notre main, Vous com-
mettons, ordonnons, faisons, coastituons & etablissons, notre
Lieutenant-general, pour representer notre persone, aux pais, ter-
ritoires, cotes & contins de la Cadie : A commencer des la
quarantieme degre jusques au quarante-sixieme. Et en icelle
etendue ou partie d'icelle, tant & si avant que faire se pourra,
etablir, etendre & faire conoitre notre nom, puissance (i authorite.
Et k icelle assujettir, submettre & faire obeir tous les peuples de
la dite terre, & les circonvoisins : Et par le moyen d'icelles &
toutes autres voyes licites, les appeller, faire instruire, provoquer &
emouvoir a la conoissance de Dieu, & a la lumiere de la Foy &
religion Chretienne, la y etablir: & en I'exercice & profession
d'icelle maintenir, garder, & conserver lesdits peuples, & tous
autres habituez esdits lieux, & en paix, repos & tranquillite y
comander tant par mer que par terre : Ordonner, decider, & faire
executer tout ce que vous jugerez se devoir & pouvoir faire, pour
maintenir, garder & conserver lesdits lieux souz notre puissance &
authorite, par les formes, voyes & moyens presents par nos ordon-
nances. Et pour y avoir egard avec vous, cominettre, etablir &
constituer tous Officiers, tant es affaires de la guerre que de Justice
& police pour la premiere fois, & de ]k en avant nous les nommer
& presenter: pour en estre par nous dispose & donner les lettres,
tiltres & provisions tels qu'ilz seront necessaires. Et selon les oc-
currences des affaires, vous memes avec I'avis de gens prudens &
capables, prescrire souz notre bon plaisir, des loix, statuts & ordon-
nances autant qu'il se pourra conformes aux notres, notainment es
choses & matieres ausquelles n'est pourveu par icelles : trailer &
contracter a meme effet paix, aliance & confederation, bonne amilie,
correspondance & communication avec les dits peuples & leurs
Princes, ou autres ayans pouvoir & commandement sur eux :
Entretenir, garder & soigneusement obseruer, les Irailtez & alli-
ances dont vous conviendrez avec eux : pourveu qu'ilz y satisfacent
de leur part. Et k ce defaut, leur faire guerre ouverle pour les
conlraindre & amener a telle raison, que vous jugerez necessaire,
pour I'honneur, obeissance & service de Dieu, & retablissement,
manutention & conservation de notredite authorite parmi eux: du
moins pour hanler & frequenter par vous, & tous noz sujets avec
eux, en toute asseurance, liberte, frequelatio & communication, y
negotier & trafiquer aimablement & paisiblement. Leur donner &
octroyer graces & privileges, charges & honneurs. Lequel entier
pouvoir susdit, Voulons aussi & ordonnons : Que vous ayez
sur tous nosdits sujets & autres qui se transporteront &
voudront s'habituer, trafiquer, negotier & resider esdits lieux,

APPENDIX. 343

tenir, prendre, reserver, & vous approprier ce que vous voudrez & 1603.
verrez vous estre plus commode & propre a votre charge, qualite&
vsage desdites terres, en departir telles parts & portions, leur
donner & attribuer tels tiltres, honneurs, droits, pouvoirs &
facultez que vous verrez besoin estre, selon les qualitez, conditions
& merites des personnes du palis ou autres. Sur tout peupler,
cultiver & faire habituer lesdites terres ie plus promptement,
soigneusement &. dextrement, que Ie temps, les lieux, & connno-
ditez Ie pourront permettre : en faire ou faire faire a cette fin la
decouverture & reconnoissance en I'etendue des cotes maritimes &
antres contrees de la terre ferme, que vous ordonnerez & prescrirez
en I'espace susdits du quarantieme degre jusques au quarante-
sixieme, ou autrement tant & si avant qu'il se pourra Ie long
desdites cotes, & en la terre forme.* Faire soigneusement re- * Ferme.
chercher & reconoitre toutes sortes de mines d'or & d'argent,
cuivre & autres metaux & mineraux, les faire fouiller, tirer, purger
& affiner, pour estre convertis en vsage, disposer suivant que nous
avons prescrit par les Edits & reglemens que nous avons fait en ce
Royaume du profit & emolument d'icelles, par vous ou ceux que
vous aurez etablis a cet effet, nous reservans seulement Ie dixieme
denier de ce qui proviendra de celles d'or, d'argent, & cuivre,
vous affectans ce que nous pourrions prendre ausdits autres
metaux & mineraux, pour vous aider & soulager aux grandes
tiepenses tjue la charge susdite vous pourra apjKMter. Voulans
cependant; que pour votre seurete & commodite, & de tous ceux
de noz sujets qui s'en iront, habitueront & trafiqueront esdites
terres : comme generalement de tous autres qui s'y accommoderont
souz notre puissance & authorite, Vous puissiez faire batir &
construire vn on plusieurs forts, places, villes & toutes autres
maisoiis, demeures & habitations, ports, havres, retraites, &
logemens que vous conoitrez propres, vtiles & neccssaires a I'ex-
ecution de ladite entreprise. Etablir garnisons & gens de guerre
a la garde d'iceux. Vous aider & prevaloir aux tffets susdits des
vagabons, personnes oyseuses & sans aveu, tant es villes qu'aux
champs, & des condamnez a banissement perpetuels, ou a trois ans
au moins hors notre Royaume, pourveu que ce soit par avis &
consentement & de I'authorite de nos Oificiers. Outre ce que
dessus, & qui vous est d'ailleurs prescrit, mande & ordonne par les
commissions & pouvoirs que vous a donnez nostre trescher cousin
Ie sieur d'Ampville Admiral de France, pour ce qui concerne Ie
fait & la charge de I'Admiraute, en I'exploit, expedition & execu-
tion des choses susdites, faire generalement pour la conquete,
peuplement, habituation & conservation de ladite terre de la
Cadie, & descetes, territoires, circonvoisins & de ieurs appart-
enances. & dependances souz notre nom & authorite, ce que nous
memes ferions & faire pourrions si presens en persone y estions,
iagoit que la cas requit mandement plus special, que nous ne Ie
vous prescrivons par cesdites presentes : au contenu desquelles,
Mandons, ordonnons & tres-expressement enjoignons k tous nos
iusticiers, otficiers & sujets, de se conformer: Et a vous obeir &
entendre en toutes & chacunes les choses sudites, Ieurs circon-
stances & dependances. Vous donner aussi en I'execution d'icelles

344 APPENDIX.

1603. tout ayde & confort, main-forte & assistance dont vous aurez
besoin & seront par vous requis, le tout k peine de rebellion &
desobei'ssance. Et a fin que persone ne preteiide cause d'ignorance
de cette notre intention, & se vueille immiscer en tout ou partie, de
la charge, dignite & authorite que nous vous donnons par ces
presentes : Nous avons de noz certaine science, pleine puissance &
authorite Royale, revoque, supprime et declare nuls & de nul effet
ci apres & des a present tous autres pouvoirs & Commissions,
Lettres & expeditions donnez & delivrez a quelque persone que ce
soit, pour decouvrir, conquerir, peupler & habiter en letendue
susdite desdites terres situees depuis le dit quarantieme degre,
iusques au quarantesixieme quelles qu'elles soient. Et outre ce
mandons & ordonnons i tous nosdits Officiers de quelque qualite
& condition qu'ils soient, que ces presentes, ou Vidimus deuement
coUationne d'icelles par 1 vn de nos amez & feaux Conseillers,
Notaires & Secretaires, ou autre Notaire Royal, ilz facent a
votre requete, poursuite & diligence, ou de noz Procureurs,
lire, publier & registrer es registres de leurs iurisdictions, pouvoirs
& detrois, cessans en tant qua eux appartiendra, tous troubles &
empichemens a ce contraires. Car tel est notre plaisir. Donne a
Fontaine-bleau le huitieme jour de Novembre; I'an de grace mil
six cens trois : Et de noire regne le quinzieme. Signe, HENRY,
Et plus bas. Par le Roy, POTIER. Et scelle sur simple queue de
cire iaune.

( Translationi)

[See above, page gy, note.]

" The Patent of the ffrench Kinge to Mounsieur De Monts for
the inhabitinge of the countries La Cadia, Canada, and other places
in New ffraunce. "

(British State Papers, Colonial, i 574-1621, Vol. i.. No. 10.)
Henery by the grace of God Kinge of ffrance and Navarre.
To our deare and welbeloved the Lord of Monts, one of the Ordi-
nary Gentlemen of our Chamber, greetinge. As our greatest care
and labour is, and hath alwaies beene, since our cominge to this
Crowne, to maintaine and conserue it in the auntient dignity,
greatnes and splendour thereof, to extend and amplifie, as much as
lawfully may bee done, the bounds and limitts of the same. Wee
beinge of a longe time informed of the scituagon and condigon of
the lands and territories of La Cadia moved above all thinges with
a singuler zeale, and devout and constant resolucon w^'' wee have
taken with the helpe and assistance of God Authour Distributour
and Protectour of all Kingdomes and estates to cause the j)eople
w^'' doe inhabite the countrey, men at this pnte * time barbarous,
'presente. Atheists without faith or religion, to be conuerted to Christianity,
and to the beleife and profession of our faith and religion, and to
drawe them from the ignorance and vnbeleife wherein they are,
havinge also of a longe time knowen by the rela9on of theSeaCap-
taines, Pylotts, Merchants and others, who of longe time have
haunted, frequented, and trafficked with the people that are found
in the said places, how fruitfull, commodious, and profitable may bee

APPENDIX. 345

vnto vs, to our estates and subiects, the dwellin.q-e possession and j6ox
habitagon of those countries, for the great and apparant profit
w*"^ may bee drawen by the greater frequentagon and hal^itude
\v<=*> may be had with the people that are found there, and the
Trafficke and commerce w'='^ may bee, by that meanes safely
treated and negotiated. Wee then for these causes fully trustinge
on your great wisedome, and in the knowledge and experience that
you have of the qualitie, condigon and situagon of the said Countrie
of La Cadia : for the divers and sundry navigagons, voyages, and
frequentagons that you have made into those parts and others
neere and borderinge vpon it. Assuringe our selues that this our
resolugon and intention, beinge committed vnto you, you will atten-
tively, diligently, and no less couragiously and valorously execute
and bringe to such perfecgon as wee desire : Have exprcssely ap-
pointed and established you, and by these presents, signed with
our owne hands, doe committ, ordaine, make, constitute and estab-
lish you, our Lievtenant generall, for to represent our person in the
countries, territories, coasts, and confines of La Cadia. To begin
from the 40 degree to the 46. And in the same distance, or part
of it, as farre as may bee done, to establish, extend, and make to
bee knowen our name, might and authoritie. And vnder the same
to subiect, submitt and bringe to obedience all the people of the
said land and the borderers thereof : And by the meanes thereof
and all lawfull waies, to call, make, instruct, provoke and incite
them to the knowledge of god, and to the light of the faith and
Christian religion, to establish it there : And in the exercise and
profession of the same, keepe and conserue the said people, and all
other inhabitants in the said places, and there to commaund in
peace, rest, and tranquillity as well by sea, as by land : to ordaine,
decide and cause to be executed all that w"^'' you shall iudge fitt
and necessary to bee done, for to maintaine, keepe and conserue
the said places vnder our power & authority by the formes, waies
and meanes prescribed by our lawes. And for to have there a
care of the same with you to appoint, establish and constitute all
Officers, as well in the affaires of warre, as for Justice and policie,
for the first time, and from thence forward to name and present
them vnto vs, for to bee disposed by vs, and to give Ires,* titles, and *lettres.
such provisoes, as shalbee necessarie. And accordinge to the oc-
currences of affaires your selfe with the aduice of wise, and capable
men, to prescribe vnder our good pleasure, lawes, statutes, and
ordinances conformable, asmuch as may be possible, vnto ours,
specially in thinges and matters that are not provided by them.
To treate and contract to the same effect, peace, alliance, and con-
federacy, good amity correspondency, and comnumicagon with the
said people and their princes, or others, havinge power or commaund
over them : To entertaine, keepe and carefully to obserue, the
treatises, and alliances wherein you shall covenant with them ; vpon
condigon that they themselves performe the same of their part.
And for wont thereof to make open warre against them, to con-
straine and bringe them to such reason as you shall thinke needfull,
for the honour, obedience, and seruice of god, and establishment,
maintenance and conseruagon of our said authoritie amongst them :

346

APPENDIX.

1603.
favours.

The
contents

of the
Patent

being
from 40

to 46.

at least to haunt and frequent by you, and all our subjects with
them, in all assurance, libertie, frequentagon, and communica^on
there to negociate and trafficke lovingly, and peaceably. To give
and graunt vnto them ftivours*, and priviledges, charges and
honours. W'^'^ intire power abovesaid, we will likewise and or-
daine, that you have over all our said subiects that will goe in that
voyage with you and inhabite there, trafficke, negociate and re-
maine in the said places, to retaine, take, reserue, and appropriate
vnto you, what you will and shall see to bee most commodious for
you, and proper for your charge, qualitie, and vse of the said lands,
to distribute such parts and porgons thereof, to give and attribute
vnto them such titles, honors, rights, powers and faculties as you
shall see necessary, accordinge to the qualities, condigons and
meritts of the persons of the same Countrie or others. Cheifely to
populate, to manure, and to make the said lands to be inhabited as
spedily, carefully, and skilfully, as time, places and commodities
may permitt. To make thereof, or cause to bee made to that end,
discoverie and view alonge the maritime Coasts &nd other Countries
of the maine land, w'-''^ you shall order and prescribe in the foresaid
space of the 40 dca^ree to the 46 degree, or otJierwise, asmuch and
as farre as may bee, alonge the said Coast, and in the firme land.
To make carefully to be sought and marked all sorts of mines of
gold and siluer, Copper, and other Metalls and Mineralls, to make
them to be digged, drawne from the earth, purified, and refined for
to bee conuerted into vse, to dispose accordinge as wee have pre-
scribed by Edicts and orders, w^^ wee have made in this Realme
of the profitt and benefitt of them, by you or them whom you shall
establish to that effect, reseruinge vnto vs onely the tenth peny, of
that w<=*^ shall issue from them of gold, silver and copper, leavinge
vnto you that w'^'^ wee might take of the other saicl Metalls and
Mineralls, for to aide and ease you in the great expences that the
foresaid charge may bringe vnto you ; Willinge in the meane while
that aswell for your securitie and commoditie, as for the securitie and
commoditie of all our subiects, who will goe, inhabite, and trafficke
in the said lands: as generally of all others that will accommodate
themselues there vnder our power and authoritie ; you may cause
to bee built, and frame one or many fforts, places, Townes, and
all other houses, dwellings and habitagons, Ports, havens, retiringe
places and lodgings, as you shall knowe to bee fitt, profitable and
necessary for the perforn^'inge of the said enterprise. To establish
garrisons and souldiers for the keepinge of them. To aide and
serue you for the effects abovesaid with the vagrant, idle persons
and masterlesse, as well out of Townes as of the Countrey : and with
them that bee condemned to perpetuall l)anishment, or for three
yeares at the least out of our Realme : Provided alwaies that it
bee done with the aduice, consent, and authoritie of our officers.
Over and besides that w<='' is above mengoned (and that w<^^ is
moreover prescribed commaunded and ordained vnto you by the
Commissions and powers w*^** our most deare Cousin, the lord of
Ampuille Admirall of ffraunce hath given vnto you for that w'^^ con-
cerneth the affaires and the charge of the Admiralitie, in the ex-
ploit, expedigon and executinge of the thinges abovesaid) to doe

APPENDIX.

347

generally whatsoever may make for the conquest, peoplinge, in- 1603.
habitinge and preseruagon of the said land of La Cadia. and of the
Coasts, territories adioyninge, and of their appurtenances and de-
pendencies, vnder our name and authoritie, whatsoever our selues
would and might doe, if wee were there present in person, although
that the case should require a more spiall* order then wee prescribe "^speciall.
vnto you by these presents. To the contents whereof wee com-
maund, ordaine, and most expressely doe inioyne all our Justices,
Officers, and subiects to conforme themselves: And to obey and
give attention vnto you, in all and everie the things abovesaid,
their circumstancies and dependencies. Also to give vnto you in
the executinge of them, all such aide and comfort, helpe and assist-
ance, as you shall have need of, and whereof they shall be by you
required, and this vpon paine of disobedience and rebellion. And
to the end no body may pretend cause of ignorance, of this our
intention, and to busie himselfe in all, or in parte of the charge,
dignitie, and authoritie w*"'* wee give vnto you by these presents :
Wee have of our certaine knowledge, full power, and regall author-
itie, revoked, suppressed and declared voide, and of none effect
hereafter, and from this present, all other powers and Comissions,
Itresfand expedigons given and deliuered to any person soeuer, for + lettres.
to discover, people, and inhabite in the foresaid extention of the
said lands scituated from the said 40 degree to the 46, whatsoever
they bee. And furthermore wee command and ordaine all our said
officers of what qualitie and condigon soever they bee, that after
those pntst or the duplicate of them shallbee duely examined by i presents.
one of our beloved and trustie Counsellors, Notaries, and Secreta-
ries, or other Notarie Royall, they doe vpon our request, demaund,
and sute, or vpon the sute of any our Atturneys, cause the same
to be read, published, and recorded in the records of their iurisdic-
90ns, powers, and precincts, seekinge, as m[u]ch as shall apper-
teine vnto them, to quiet and appease all troubles and hinderance
w'^*' may contradict the same, ffor such is our pleasure. Given
at ffountain-bleau the 8 day of November : in the yeare of our Lord
1603 : And of our Raigne the 1 5. signed Henery : and vnderneath,
by the Kinge, Potier ; And sealed vpon single labell with yellow
waxe.

Indorsed :— " The copie of the ffrench Kings Patent to Moun-
sieur de Monts of La Cadia Canada &c.
granted 8 Noveb 1603,
fro 40 to 46 degrees.

Acadia, Canada,

&c.

Nov"" 1603."

348

APPENDIX.

1621.

PETITION OF THE WALLOONS AND FRENCH.
[State Papers, Holland, 1622,' Jan.-Mar., Bundle No. 145.]

[See above, pages 158-163.]

Sera treshumblement supplie Monseigneur
L'Ambassadeur du Serenissime Roy de La-
grande Bretagne de nous donner auis et
responce sur les articles quj s'ensuiuent.

Premierement sil plairoit a sa majeste de permettre a cincquante
ou soi.xante families tant de Wallons que frangois tous de la religion
refformee d'aller s'habituer en Virginie terre de son obeissance ; &
sil ne luy plairoit pas prandre leur protection et sauuegarde
enuers et centre tous et les maintenir en leur religion.

Et a cause quaus-dites families se pourroit trouuer pres de trois
cens personnes, quaussi ils souhaiteroient mener auecq eus quan-
tite de bestail, tant pour la culture de la terre que pour leur
entretien : etquaces causes il leur seroit besoin d' auoir plusd'une
nauire : sj sadicte majeste ne voudroit point les en accommoder
d'une esquippee et munie de canons et aues amies, sur lequelle ils
accompliroient (auecq celle quils pourroient fournir) leur voyage
retourner querir des conimodites aus lieus concedes par sadite
majeste ensemble transporter celles du pays.

iij

Si arriues ausdict pays, elle ne leur voudroit pas permettre de choisir
entre les lieus non encore cultiues par ceus quil a pleu a sadite
majeste y enuoyer. vne place commode pour leur demeure.

iiij

Sj audict lieu est eu, ils ne pourroient pas tediffier vne ville pour
leur seurete, la munir de fortiffications requises, dans laquelle ils
pourroient eslire gouuerneur et majistrats pour lexercice tant de
la police que de la iustice ; soubs les lois fundamentales qujia pleu
ou plaira a sadicte majeste establir ausdites terres.

Sj sadite majeste ne leur voudroit pas donner canons et munitions
pour la manutenon de ladite place, leur octroyer droit en cas de
necessite de batre poudre, composer boullets, et fondre canons sous
les panonceaus & amies de sadite majeste.

' A clerical mistake for 1621. See above, page 163, note.

APPENDIX. 349

vj 1621.

Si elle ne leur voudroit pas conceder vne banlieue ou tcrritoirc do
huit mille angloises la ronde cest a dire seze mille dcdianietre dans
lequel ils pourroient cultiuer champs pres vijjnes et autres commo-
dites lequel territoire soil conjointement soil diiiiseur ils tiendroieiVv.
de sadite niajeste a foy et hoinniage telle que trouuerra raison-
nable sadite majestn sans quautre y peut deniourer sans prandrc
lettre de baillette dens des terres y contenues dans lesquellcs ils
se reserueroient droit seignoirial subalterne et sil ne seroit pas
permis a ceus d'entreus quj pourroient viure noblement de se dire
tels.

vij

Silsne pourroient pas chasseresdites terres a poil et a plume pes-
cher en mer et riuieres couper arbres de haute futaye et autres tant
pour la nauigation que autres negoces selon leur volunte en fin se
seruir de tout ce quj seroit tant dessus que dessous terre sauue les
droits royaus aleurs plaisir et volunte et du tout traffiquerauecq les
personnes quj leurs seroient permises.

Lesquelles choses sestendroient seulement ausdites families et
aus leurs sans que ceus quj viendroient denouueau audit territoire
sen peussent preualloir quentend que ils leurs concederoient selon
leur puissance et non audela sj sadite majeste ne leur concedoit de
nouueau.

Et pource quils ont entendu que sadite majeste a establj vne
maison commune a Londres dans laquelle non ailleurs on doit
descharger les marchandises quj viennent desdites terres consider-
ant quil est plus que raisonnable que ceus quj par leur labeur et
Industrie ont donne au public la iouissance de ceste terre iouissent
les premiers des fruits dicelle se sousmetteront aus constitutions
quj pour cet effet y ont este establies lesquelles pour meilleur entre-
tien leur seront communiques.

Soubs lesquelles conditions et priuileges ils prometteroient foy et
obeissance telle que doiuent fidelles et obeissans subjects a leur
Roy et souuerain Seigneur se sousmetteront aus lois generalle-
ment establies ausdites terres de tout leur pouuoir.

Sur ce que dessus mondict Seigneur lAm-
bassadeur donnera auis sil luy plaist comme
aussj sj son plaisir seroit de faire expedier
ledict priuilege en forme deue le plustost
que faire se pourra a cause du peu de temps
quj reste dicy au mars (temps conunode
pour lembarquemt) pour faire lacceuil de
tout ce quj est requis ce faisant obligera ses
seruiteurs a prier Dieu pour laccomplissemt
de ses saincts deseins et pour sa sante et
longue vie.

JESSE DE FOREST.
Indorsed : — Supplicaon of certaine Wallons and French who are
desirous to goe into Verginia.
[Inclosed in Sir Dudley Carleton's letter dated 19 July, 1621.]

350 APPENDIX.

1621.

ANSWER OF THE VIRGINIA COMPANY.

[State Papers, Colonial, Vol I., No. 55.]

[See above, pages 163-165.]

The humble answere of so many of His Mat'^s
Councell for Virginia as could at present bee assem-
bled, they being in His Highnes name required by
the R' Hob'e Si" George Calvert Principal! Secretary
of State, to deliver their opinion concerning certaine
Articles putt vp by some Walloones and ffrenche-
men desirous to goe to Virginia.

for the flfirst If it stand w'h His Ma'i^s gratious favour they do
not conceive it any inconvenience at present to suffer
sixtie families of Walloones and ffrenchmen not
exceeding the nomber of 300 persons to goe and
inhabite in Virginia, The sayd persons resoluing
and taking oath to become His Ma''es and His Suc-
cessours faithfull and obedient subjects: and being
willing as they make profession to agree in points of
faith, So likewise to bee conformable to the forme
of gouvernm' now established in the Churche of
England.

for the second They esteeme it so Royall a favour in His Ma''<^,
and so singula[r] a benefitt to the sayd Walloones
and ffrenchemen to bee admitted to live in that
fruitefull land vnder the proteccion and gouv-
ernm' of so mighty and pious a Monarch as His
Ma"e is, that they ought not to expect of His sacred
Ma'ie any ayde of shipping or other chargeable
favour. And as for the Company for Virginia their
stock is so vtterly exhausted by theese three last
yeares supplies, as they are not able to giue
them any farther helpe in that kinde, then onely
in point of advise & Councell, for the cheapest
transportation of themselues and goodes, and the
most frugall and profitable managing of their
affayres, if His Royal Ma''^ please so to command
them.

ffor the 3. 4. 5. They conceiue that for the prosperity and principally
6. 7. Articles the securing of the plantacion in His Ma'ies obedi-
ence, it is not expedient that the sayd ffamilies
should sett downe in one grosse and entire bodie
wch the demaundes specifyed, but that they should
rather bee placed by convenient nombers in the
principall Citties, Borroughes and Corporacions in
Virginia, as themselues shall choose. There being
, giuen vnto them such proporcion of land and all

APPENDIX. 351

other priviledjjes and benefitts whatsoever in as 1621.
ample manner as to the naturall Englishe, And this
course they out of their experience do conceiue
likely to proue better, and more comfortable to the
sayd Walloons and ffrenchemen, then that other
w-ch ihey desire.

All theese their opinions they do most humbly submitt to the most
excellent wisdome of His sacred Ma'ie

signed by

JOHN FERRAR, Deputy.

Indorsed :— " xj. August 162 1

Copie of the answere made by the Virginia Company
to the request made by the Wallons and Frenche to
plant themselues in Virginia."

THE WALLOON AND FRENCH PETITIONERS.

[See above, pages 162, 173, si\/.]

" The Signature of such Walloons and French as offer them-
selves to goe into Verginia," is preserved in the British Public Record
Offlce, London. (State Papers, Colonial, Vol. I., No. 54.*) An
application kindly made in my behalf, in November, 1880, by Ar-
thur Giraud Browning, Esq., of London, for permission to have a
photograph of this document made, was most courteously granted.
An engraving of the petition appears in the present work. The
original measures eighteen liy thirteen and a half inches. The sig-
natures, accompanied with a statement of the calling of ejich per-
son, are arranged in the form of a "round robin,"' encircling the
" promise" made by the signers to fulfill, the conditions set forth in
their communication to the English ambassador.

With the valued help of the Librarian of the Walloon Library in
Leyden, I have ascertained that the greater number of these peti-
tioners were members of the Walloon Church in that city. The
investigation made has also enabled me to ])resent the names, many
of which are written very indistinctly, with greater correctness.
Several of them were not to be found in the Walloon records of Ley-
den; and it is likely that the signers belonged to other cities. Many
names reappear in those records after an interval of three or four
years. The persons thus named may have emigrated to New
Netherland, and returned to " Fatherland," as dominie Michaelius
wrote, August 11, 1628, that" a portion of them" were about
to do.

" Signatures : "

f 5 [6j enfans Jesse de Forest tincturier

f 2 enfans Nycolas de la Marlier tainturier

fme Jan Damont laboureur

352

APPENDIX.

1621.

fme

3 enfans

5 enfans

fme

5 enfans

fme

4 enfans

fme

5 enfans

fme

I enfans

fme

4 enfans

fme

4 enfans

fme

I enfans

fme

I enfans

Jeune tils

fme

I enfans

fme

2 enfans

Homme a marier

Jeune

fils [erased]

Homme a marier

Jeune

fils [erased]

2 enfans

fme

4 enfans

fme

2 enfans

4 enfans

2 enfans

fme

5 enfans

fme

4 enfans

Jeune fils

fme

I enfans

Jeune homme

fme

5 enfans

2 enfans

Jeunne fs

4 enfans

fme

6 enfans

fme

2 enfans

Jeune fils

Homme a marier

6 enfans

5 enfans

2 enfans

fme

5 enfans

fme

I enfan

Jeune fils

Jeune fiUe

Jeunne fils

2 enfans

Jeune fils

fme

7 enfans

fme 4 enfans

Jan Gille laboureur

Jan de Trou paigneur en laine

Phlipe Maton temturie et deux serviteur

Anthoyne de Violate vigneron de vingne

Ernou Catoir paignier

Anthoin Desendre laboureur

Abel de Crepy ouvrier de la navette

Adrien Barbe tainturier

Michelle Censier ticheran de drape

Jerome Le Roy tischeron de drape

Claude Ghiselin tailleur dabits

Jan de Crenne facteur

Louis Broque laboureur

Mousnier de la Montagne estudient en medicine.

Mousnier de la Montagne pharmacien et chir-

[urgien.
Jacque Conne laboureur de terre
Henry Lambert drapier de drap
Jorge le ca[ ] charger
^lichel du Pon chapiller
Jan Bilk [Billet.?] laboureur
Polle de Pasar tiseran "^

Antoine Gremier gardener
Jean Gourdeman laboureur
Jean Campion painnier
Jan de la Mot laboureur
Antoinne Martin

Franchois Fourdrin passeur de peau
Jan le Ca laboureur
Theodor du Four drapier
Gillam Broque laboureur
Gouerge Woutre
Jan Sage sairger

Mari Flip au nom de son mari munier
P. Gantois Estudiant en Theologie
Jacques de Lechielles brasseur
Jan le Rou imprimeur
marque de Jan de Croy scieur de boy
marq de Challe Channy laboureur
marq de Francoi Clitden laboureur
Flipe Campion drapepier
Robert Broque laboureur
Philippe de Le ouvrier cha^pentier
Jenne Martin
Piere Cornille vingeron
Jan du Carpentrij laboureur
Martin de Carpentier fondeur de cuivre
Thomas Farnarcque serrurier
Pierre Gaspar
Gregoire le Jeune cordonnier

APPENDIX. 353

fine I enfans Martin Framerie musicien 1621.

Homme a marier Pierre Quiesnier brasseur

fme 3 enfans Pontus le Geay faisseur destamin

fe 8 enfans Barthelemy Digaud scyeur de bois

NOTES FROM THE WALLOON RECORDS OF LEYDEN.

De la Marlier. Jean de laMarlierwas witness to the baptism
of Philippe, son of Jesse de Forest and Marie du Cloux, in the Wal-
loon Church of Leyden, September 13, 1620.

Damont. Frangoise Damont, a native of Liege, was married,
December 15, 1633.

GiLLE. Jean Gille, a native of Lille, was married to Cataline
Face, of Leyden, October 17, 161 5.

Maton. Philipjie Maton, a native of Fourcoin, was married to
Philippotte Caron, January 10, 1599.

Catoir. a child of Arnoul Catoire, was baptized September 23,
1618.

Desendre. Anthoine Decende witnessed the baptism of a child
of Jean de Croi, March 28, 1621.

Crepy. Abel Crepy and Jaquemine do Lannoy presented their
daughter Susanne for baptism, February 6, 1627.

Barbe. Adrien Barbe was witness to the baptism of Adrien, son
of Jean Barbe, September 14, 1625.

Le Roy. Jerosme le Roy, a native of Armentieres, was married
to Susanne le Per, of Norwich, England, November i, 1620.

Ghiselin. Claude Gyselin was witness to the bapiism of a child
of Gregoire le Jeune, March 28, 162 1.

Censier. Michelle, daughter of Michel Censier, was baptized
September 29, 16^.4.

De Cranxe. Jean de Cranne was a witness to the baptism of a
child of Gregoire le Jeune, March 28, 162 1.

Broque. Louis Broque and Chertruy Quinze presented their son
Pierre for baptism, January 30, 1622.

CoiNNE. Jaques Coinne, a native of Ron, near Lille, was mar-
ried to Christienne Baseu (or le Baiseur), of Fourcoin, July 27,
l6?4. Their son Noe was baptized June 28, 1620.

Lambert. Henri Lami)ert, was received to the Holy Commun-
ion, at Pentecost, 1620, upon confession of his faith. Henri Lam-
i)ert, born near Limbourg, and Anne Digan, of Noyeiles in Hain-
ault, were married November i, 1620.- (Another Henri Lambert,
a native of Liege, was married November 10, 162 1, to Marguerite
Simon.)

Du Pon. Michiel du Pon. a native of Valenciennes, was married
to Nicole Billet, of Herdeyn, July 5, 1597.

Campion. Jean Campion, a native of Artois, was married to
Isabeau Cap. August 25, 1607.

De La Mot. Jean de la Mote and >Larie Fache, his wife, pre-
sented their son Jean for baptism, November 10, 1622.

354 APPENDIX.

1621. Martin. Antoine Martin, born near St. Amand, was married

to Prudence Husse, of St. Amand, December 8, 1619.

Le Ca. Jean le Ca, a native of Halewyn, was married to Marie
des Pre, of Monvau, January 7, 1617.

Dv Four. Theodore du Four and Sara Nicaise, his wife, pre-
sented their daughter Madelaine for baptism, July 24, 1616.

BRoyUE. Gillain Broque was a witness to the baptism of Pierre,
son of Louis and Chertruy Broque, January 30, 1622.

Sage. Marie, tille de Jean le Sage, was baptized in March,
1605.

De Lechielles. Jaques de Lespielle witnessed, with Jesse and
Rachel de Forest, to the baptism of Henri Lambert's son Henri,
August I, 1621.

De Croy. Two children of Jean de Croi were baptized in the
Walloon Church, April 12, 161 5, and March 28, 1621.

Du Carpentry. Jean des Carpentry, a native of Landa
[Landas, in Flanders], was married to Anna Chotein, from the
neighborhood of St. Amand, March 10, 1619.

Farnarcque. Thomas Farvarque and Marie, his wife, pre-
sented their son Abraham for baptism, August 4, 1624.

Le Jeune. Gregoire le Jeune and his wife Jenrie de Merre pre-
sented their son Isaac for baptism, >Larch 28, 1621.

Framerie. Martin Framerie and Marie Francois his wife, pre-
sented their son Zacharie for baptism, October 25, 1620.

OUIESNIER. Pierre Ouesnee. or Ouesnoy, a native of Fourcoin.
ancT Marie le Per, of Wacka, near Lille, were married, February
27, 1617.

DiGAND. Barthelemy Digand and Fran^oise Fregeau his wife
presented their son Isaac for baptism, March i, 1620.

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